Sometimes, Love Just Needs Less
by Tammy Tamborine
Summary: Everyone knows what happened to the Titans when Raven denied her fears, but what happened to her emotions? Well, it's about to happen again, but with denying a much more powerful emotion... BBRae
1. Chapter 1

**Sometimes, Love Just Needs Less...**

**_Chapter 1: Not Again_**

"YOU IDIOT!"

Starfire, Robin and Cyborg all looked up to watch yet another fight between Raven and Beast Boy. It wasn't exactly uncommon, but it was usually pretty entertaining to watch. It wasn't as fun forcing them to make up after, but there wasn't much they could do about that.

This time, Raven looked angry and was holding up a dripping book, while Beast Boy looked guilty and was holding an empty teacup. You do the math.

"I'm sorry, Raven," Beast Boy apologised hastily. "I just wanted to bring you some tea, and-"

"And you had to be your dumb, clumsy self and spill it all over my new book?" Raven finished for him.

"That's not exactly how I was going to put it," mumbled Beast Boy, looking down at his shoes.

"Why did you bother making tea for me anyway?" Raven continued. "Did you switch the sugar with salt again? Or maybe, you put in one of those ridiculous tablets that will turn my tongue blue."

"No, I-"

"Save it," Raven interrupted stoically. Beast Boy watched indignantly as she coolly left the room, soggy book in hand. He hadn't done anything to the tea! It was unjust how she just immediately assumed that he had somehow spiked her tea! It wasn't his fault that he had tripped on his untied shoelace!

Once the door had closed behind her, Beast Boy decided to turn on his watching friends.

"I was just trying to be nice!" he exclaimed angrily, waving his hands in the air to emphasise his annoyance.

"Well, you did ruin her book before she could finish it," pointed out Robin. Beast Boy scowled.

"Come on. She can't have liked it that much! There were too many pages, and big words," Beast Boy insisted, conveniently omitting that fact that all her books had too many pages and big words, in his opinion.

"And, B, you gotta admit, you have played your fair share of 'tea pranks' on her," Cyborg added calmly to Robin's reasoning.

"Yeah right. Like what?"

"You mean _besides _switching the sugar and the salt?" asked Cyborg.

"And giving her tea with tablets to turn her tongue blue?" added Robin.

"Or the time you placed the bug of plastic in her cup?" offered Starfire.

"How about the time you made Raven's tea in a dribble cup, so it leaked all over her chin?" Cyborg continued.

"Do not forget when he put the sauce of hotness in her beverage!" Starfire added.

"Or there was-"

"Okay!" Beast Boy interrupted. His friends were getting way too into this. "I get it. I have played a few little jokes on her, but you can't blame this all on me. She's the one that exploded at me over spilt tea!"

"You are both equally to blame," Starfire replied, playing the role of peacemaker, "But, perhaps you should go apologise for spilling the tea on her book."

Beast Boy looked at his friends defiantly for a minute before sighing and slumping his shoulders.

"You're right," he grumbled, shuffling to the door slowly, "But for the record, it's her fault!"

-

Vanilla scented candles greeted Raven's nose as she entered her room. Immediately, Raven felt herself relax.

Sitting down in the middle of her room, Raven dropped her wet book on the floor in front of her. Luckily, her carpets were stain resistant.

Raven looked down at the book. She had bought the paperback at a convenience store across the street from their usual pizza parlour when she hadn't felt like joining in on the meat pizza vs. tofu toppings debate. The book was written by an author she had never heard of, and it was acclaimed by publishing companies that she was sure had been made up.

Raven considered her options: she could dry all the pages with a blow drier, buy a new copy at the store, or she could admit that she hadn't really liked the book to begin with and had only been reading it for lack of anything better to do.

Pride made her choose the first; let Beast Boy feel guilty every time he saw the tea stained pages.

With a small smirk, Raven used her powers to bring a blow drier to the center of the room. Plugging it into a nearby outlet, Raven turned it on low and aimed the warm air at the damp paper.

As she watched the pages slowly dry, Raven felt a strange feeling bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Turning off the hair drier, Raven concentrated on the feeling. It was like there were a million tiny frogs battering against her insides. It was a lovely image.

Eventually, she recognised the frogs as guilt. Guilt for wanting Beast Boy to feel guilty over a little spill.

Sighing in slight frustration, Raven tossed the book in her small trash bin and put the blow drier on the ground. She didn't understand why she should feel guilty (she was really starting to hate that word) for something like that. She had done worse, she was sure, without receiving such a stupid sentiment.

Using her powers, Raven picked up an item on her desk. She looked at the silver mirror in her hands, gently running her thumb over the detailing in the frame.

She knew she shouldn't use it unless it was an emergency, which Raven doubted. Still, it felt like something was encouraging her to use it.

Before she could do anything, however, the familiar alarm rang through the tower. Dropping the item on the ground, Raven stood up and ran out of her room.

-

"The darn thing isn't going to fit!" Private Hive whined as Mammoth attempted to attach a big screen TV onto the back of a stolen motorcycle.

"I bet a pair of handcuffs would fit you five!"

The HIVE Five turned to see five teenage super heroes looking at them confidently.

"You're hilarious," replied Jinx, "Let's see if you think this is funny!"

The sorceress unleashed a wave of pink energy at the group of crime fighters.

"Titans, go!" Robin exclaimed. Everyone jumped away from the attack, and everyone turned their attention to their own opponent.

Robin chose to go against Gizmo, sending a barrage of bird-o-rangs at the short boy.

Starfire swooped down, shooting starbolts at Mammoth, as Cyborg blasted his sonic cannon at See-More.

Transforming into a rhino, Beast Boy went after Jinx, leaving Raven with Private Hive.

It wasn't a very eventful fight, and within fifteen minutes, each of the HIVE students had been handcuffed.

"The HIVE Five are so going to get back at you scum buffin' crud munchers!"

That was all they heard as the police van door was closed on the angry HIVE students.

"I'd like to see you try!" Beast Boy yelled, smiling, after the retreating vehicle. "Ha, we sure showed them."

"Don't get cocky," Raven warned him, "It's unattractive."

Oh, bad choice of words, Raven.

"So, you're saying that I'm attractive the rest of the time?" Beast Boy asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

To her chagrin, Raven felt a small blush cross her face when she realised she was actually considering the question. Thank Azar, she was still wearing her hood.

"I never said that."

"No, but you implied it. C'mon Raven, just admit it. You think I'm sexy." He wiggled his eyebrows again, and Raven had to fight the urge to rip the offensive hairs out of his head.

"If you like green elves," Raven snapped, sliding into the back seat of the T-car before Beast Boy could reply.

Beast Boy let Starfire sit in the middle, letting Raven sit in moody silence on the other side of the car.

Raven spent the entire ride looking out the window angrily.

How dare he suggest that she thought he was attractive, let alone sexy? The very thought was ridiculous. Sure, he did have pretty nice muscles, considering he was the scrawniest person on the team. And, his eyes were a gorgeous shade of emerald. He could wear spandex surprisingly well—

'Bad Raven!' the empath mentally slapped herself. 'No thinking like that!'

Giving her head a good bang on the car window, which only earned a few strange looks, Raven quickly shook the thoughts from her head.

Beast Boy watched her in concern. Was she really _that_ angry? He had only been joking when he said she thought he was sexy.

Unless, of course, she was still angry about the book. Beast Boy gulped. He never had got around to apologising for that, had he?

As soon as the T-car had come to a halt in the garage, Raven opened the door and jumped out, disappearing into the tower. Beast Boy watched her hasty retreat. So did the other Titans.

"Haven't you apologised to her yet?" asked Robin, stepping out of the front passenger seat.

"Uh, not yet," replied Beast Boy. "I kind of… took too long, and the alarm went off before I could get to her room."

The other Titans groaned and fixed stern looks on the changeling.

"Okay. I'm going, I'm going," Beast Boy told them, backing out of the garage.

Beast Boy walked through the halls, still nervous about having to apologise, but moving at a faster pace than he had earlier. He wasn't angry any more, although he had been pretty peeved earlier. He was just nervous about having to talk to Raven when she was probably in a kill-the-green-guy kind of mood.

Unfortunately, it didn't take him long to reach the hallway Raven's room was in.

Keeping his eyes glued on the floor, Beast Boy walked over to the door and raised a hand to knock. To his surprise, his hand went right through the door.

Blinking and looking up in surprise, Beast Boy realised that his hand hadn't actually gone through the door. The door was already open, which was possibly a bigger surprise than if his hand really had passed through the solid metal door. Raven never left her door open, even when she was inside.

Nervously, Beast Boy inched forward so that only his head was in her room.

"Raven? Hellooo... You there, Rae?"

Sighing in relief, Beast Boy walked in. Whenever he wanted to know if she was in her room, he just had to call her 'Rae'. She hated that. Not enough to maim him, but enough to give him some type of angry response. If she didn't come yell at him, he was safe to sneak in. Not that he snuck into her room... usually. Okay, so maybe a few times to look for a diary of some sort. He had never found one.

Beast Boy walked through the room, looking around. It was still pretty creepy in here, but it was nicer than when he usually came. She had left candles burning, casting their soft, peaceful glow through the room. She had probably forgotten about them when the alarm went off.

Beast Boy walked over to the bookshelf that covered most of one wall. He wondered what that book he had ruined was called. Feeling his neck start to get sore from looking up at the bookshelf, Beast Boy walked backwards, rubbing his neck.

As he backed up, he felt something under his foot. Looking down, he saw that the something was glowing. His eyes widened as he recognised the 'something' as Raven's meditation mirror. A portal to her mind.

The air around him started to swirl, and Beast Boy felt himself being pulled.

"Not again!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he was sucked into the swirling vortex to her mind.

* * *

Hey everyone! I hope you liked the first chapter of 'Sometimes, Love Just Needs Less...' Great title, eh? You can all thank Regrem Erutaerc for that. In fact, this entire story idea is his idea, I'm just writing it.

Anyway, I hope you like it. Hopefully the next chapter will be a bit funnier, and longer. If you haven't guessed already (Which I really hope you have), Beast Boy is going into Raven's mind again, where he's going to have some strange encounters with Raven-kind.

I know there are a lot of fics where Beast Boy goes back into Raven's mind, but I don't think this idea has been done before. Just wait, you'll see what I mean.

Until then, feel free to review!

Tammy Tamborine


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Whoa!"

THUD 

Beast Boy groaned, rolling himself onto his back. Spitting out a mouthful of gravel after his face-plant with the rocky terrain of Raven's mind, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Great. I come to apologise to Raven and end up with a mouthful of dirt," he whined.

He looked around the familiar rocky platform. It was just like he remembered it. Everywhere he looked, all he could see was a mass of rock, floating in an endless sky of black. When he turned, there was a plain stone arch standing behind him.

Beast Boy stared at the archway. It didn't look special at all. Just a slab of rock carved into an arc shape. He could even see the black sky behind it. It was like a doorframe without the door, but he knew better than to underestimate it. He had seen a couple like it the last time he went into her mind, and knew they led to the different realms of Raven's mind.

He knew that he should just sit down and wait for Raven. She would have to look for him in here eventually, and she wouldn't want him looking around her mind.

Still, the arch was calling his name. Not literally, of course, but it just wasn't in his nature to wait patiently when there was an unknown world right in front of him.

Besides, curiosity is a very admirable quality. At least, that's what he would tell Raven if she asked why he was poking around her head.

Taking a deep breath, Beast Boy closed his eyes and walked through the stone archway.

When he opened his eyes, everything had changed. The sky had faded from black to a light shade of purple. Lavender clouds floated through the sky, changing from heart shapes, to flowers, to a pair of lips, and back to hearts.

The rocky ground had suddenly become fertile, and violet grass and fragrant white and purple flowers had sprung up everywhere.

Purple birds flew around and preened their feathers, their love songs filling the air.

"And I thought Happy's realm was girly," Beast Boy muttered, watching two butterflies flutter past.

"What are you doing here?" Raven's voice asked from behind him. Beast Boy jumped, before realising that she didn't sound angry. Far from it, in fact.

He turned around and came face-to-face with a purple cloaked Raven: one of her emotions.

Now, if Beast Boy were skilled in problem solving and putting clues together, he might have figured out that the realm he was in belonged to the emotion, Affection. He also might have realised that the girl smiling affectionately at him was the emotion that lived there.

Unfortunately, Beast Boy is not very skilled in those particular areas.

"Who are you?" he asked. The girl hesitated before answering him.

"It's probably best if you don't know just yet," Affection told him. "Just call me…" she looked down at her cloak. "Violet. Call me Violet."

"Violet," Beast Boy repeated, nodding, "I can handle that."

The girl smiled and sat down under a pale purple tree. White flowers grew along the base of the tree, and the leaves covering the branches were heart-shaped. She motioned for him to sit down as well.

"You still haven't answered my question," Affection informed him, "What are you doing in Raven's mind?"

"I came to apologise and got sucked into the mirror," Beast Boy explained, looking suddenly very guilty, "I was being a jerk earlier, and now, Raven's mad at me."

"Raven's not mad at you, Beast Boy." Violet patted his arm reassuringly, a gesture that would have made Beast Boy sure she had gone insane if she were the real Raven, and not an emotion. "A little annoyed, perhaps, but Raven couldn't stay mad at you over such a small thing as spilling tea on a book she didn't even like."

"I knew she didn't like it!" Beast Boy exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air triumphantly. Affection smiled lightly.

Looking over at her, Beast Boy realised that he really liked that smile. It wasn't the sarcastic smirk she wore sometimes. It was polite and small, but genuine. It was the smile she gave him on the rare occasion that he actually said something right around her.

"So, she's not mad at me?" Beast Boy asked for reassurance.

"No, not right now. She probably will be when she finds out that you snuck into her room and went into her mind… but for now, she's not," the purple clad emotion replied.

Beast Boy chuckled, leaning against the tree truck.

"It's nice here," Beast Boy told her, watching a heart cloud float lazily through the sky.

"Yes," agreed Affection.

"Why won't you tell me which emotion you are?" Beast Boy asked.

"It's complicated," she replied, and left it at that. For once, Beast Boy knew that he probably shouldn't keep prying for information.

They sat in a comfortable silence, watching the clouds float by. Affection wove a crown of white flowers while Beast Boy chewed on the sweet purple grass.

Beast Boy watched as she tied the stems together, smiling. He would never have pictured Raven as the kind of girl who would weave daisy crowns, let alone know how. Then again, it was only one of her many emotions. How many did she have?

He turned to ask Violet, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder, but forgot what he was going to ask. He looked at her as she carefully wove the flower stems. The quiet look of serene concentration she wore reminded him of the same expression Raven had when she read. Without fully realising it, he found his arm travel around her shoulder, pulling her closer. She gasped a little and looked at him. He tried to think of an explanation for his actions, but was interrupted by a bright flash of light shining through her cloak.

"What was that!" they both exclaimed, jumping apart.

"You mean you don't know?" Beast Boy asked. "This is supposed to be your mind!"

"I know, but…" Affection trailed off suddenly. With a curious expression on her face, she carefully opened her cloak to look at the leotard underneath. When she did though, she found that she wasn't wearing her usual uniform. Underneath her cloak, she was wearing a flowing purple dress. "What's this?" she mumbled to herself.

"Whoa," Beast Boy murmured, looking at the flattering dress. It was made of plum coloured material, with a satin sheen. Form-fitting at the top and flowing away at the hip.

Realising he was staring, he quickly coughed and averted his eyes. "Er… Have you been wearing that this whole time?"

"No," she replied, "I don't know how I got this dress. It just sort of… appeared… after that flash."

"That is so weird," Beast Boy said, "What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure," Affection replied, "I think, perhaps, we should look for Knowledge and Wisdom. They might know what's going on."

"Aw! C'mon, Vi, it can't be that important. So your clothes changed a bit, no big deal," Beast Boy tried to convince her. He wasn't particularly eager to leave this peaceful realm over a change of clothing.

"No," said Violet. "Even seemingly small changes can be big in here. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Seeing that Beast Boy still didn't seem to want to leave, she added, "You'll even get to see some of the other emotions while we search."

"Okay, let's go," Beast Boy jumped up from the ground. Affection smiled up at him.

"Which way do we go?" he asked, looking around for a sign of some sort. Affection stood as well. Standing upright, her cloak covered most of her dress, except for the inch or two peeking through the bottom.

"Follow me," Violet replied, walking across a cute little bridge that extended over a river of clear running water.

-

Raven sat on the roof, meditating. The fresh ocean breeze tickled her neck as she repeated her mantra. Suddenly, she stopped.

_That_ wasn't the breeze. The skin across her shoulders tingled like a warm, invisible arm had been draped across them. It felt kind of nice, but it didn't last for long.

Deciding it must have just been her imagination, she continued to chant.

-

Beast Boy followed her across the bridge, and they made their way through a bright purple forest that reminded Beast Boy of the sunny part of the woods that Snow White met all the little animals in. His only solace for that though was that Starfire had been the one watching the movie.

Eventually, they reached another stone gateway. Affection went first, hoping that this one led to either Knowledge or Wisdom's realm. Beast Boy followed her, wondering where they would end up this time.

"I know this place! We're in the land of air-fresheners!" Beast Boy exclaimed, looking around the bright pink world, splashed with yellow, that he had followed Affection into. Someone giggled, and they both turned towards the sound.

"You're still funny, BB," Happy informed him, stepping from behind a tree. Her cloak was thrown open, revealing her own outfit.

"Hey, Happy!" Beast Boy greeted, smiling widely. "Your clothes changed, too!"

Happy smiled even wider and looked down at the garb under her own cloak. She wore a long, pink plaid skirt and a white button up shirt. A pink necktie was knotted loosely around her collar, and her white knee-high socks almost reached the hem of her skirt.

"Yeah, isn't my new outfit cute? I just love it!" exclaimed Happy, twirling around so her skirt swirled around her knees.

"Happy, have you seen Knowledge?" asked Affection, ignoring Happy's display, "Or Wisdom?"

"Huh? No, not recently," Happy replied, flipping her cloak open like a would-be model, then closing it and doing it again.

Beast Boy giggled at the performance before turning back to Affection.

"I guess they aren't here," he said, "Should we keep looking?"

"Not yet," replied the purple emotion, a thoughtful expression on her face, "Happy, when did your clothes change?"

"Just a little while ago. I got this warm, fuzzy feeling and- POOF- the boring black leotard is gone, and I've got this cool outfit!" Happy replied, making frantic arm gestures as she enthusiastically recounted her story.

Violet's pensive expression doubled after hearing Happy's story. She had said something about a warm, fuzzy feeling. She couldn't mean the feeling Affection had felt when…? No, of course not.

"Come on, Beast Boy! You're it!" Exclaimed Happy, tapping Beast Boy on the shoulder and running towards the flowery fields. Beast Boy smiled, and ran after her.

Affection watched as they ran around the field, Beast Boy trying to catch the laughing, pink emotion.

"Is that the best you can do?" teased Happy, dodging one of his flailing arms and staying just out of his reach.

"I'm just going easy on you," Beast Boy insisted, grinning.

"Oh yeah? Then, how come you can't catch me?" Happy joked.

"I can!" Beast Boy replied. Before Happy could reply, he lunged at her, tackling her to the ground. They both tumbled into the pink grass, laughing.

"You're it," Beast Boy told her, looking down at her smiling face. Wait? Looking down?

Beast Boy looked down to see that he was lying on top of the giggling emotion, his hands still around her waist.

Watching them from the path, Affection felt a tingle run up her spine. It almost felt like there were invisible hands pressed against the small of her back, and a comfortable weight pressed against her chest. She realised that they were probably the things that Happy was feeling now, only muted a little.

She looked over at the pair of them, lying in the grass. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought they were just a random couple canoodling in the park. Of course, most random couples weren't green and grey.

Suddenly, a blinding flash surrounded the two emotions. Beast Boy and Happy yelped and jumped apart. Affection jumped a bit, and looked down at her outfit. The dress was still there, but her cloak had disappeared: another odd clothing change.

Her mind raced as she thought back to the first change. It had happened right after Beast Boy had put his arm around her. And this time…

Affection's eyes widened as a possible explanation came to mind, but she decided not to voice her theory quite yet.

Beast Boy and Happy ran over.

"It happened again," panted Beast Boy, "Your cloaks disappeared!"

"I know," Affection nodded.

"Should we keep looking for Knowledge and Wisdom?" asked Beast Boy, suddenly reminded of why they had come to Happy's realm in the first place.

"Actually, there's something I have to do. You two should keep looking for Wisdom and Knowledge," she told them, feigning casualness. Beast Boy seemed unsure.

"Are you sure?" asked Beast Boy, watching her carefully.

"Yes. Just go. I'll see you both later," Affection insisted, smiling gently. Beast Boy smiled back.

"Okay," he agreed. "Come on, Happy. Let's go find the smarties."

Giggling, Happy led him through paths of bright flowers in the direction of the next portal. Affection watched, making sure they were out of sight, before she turned and ran back to her own realm.

-

"Azarath, Met-"

Stopping mid-chant, Raven opened her eyes. She shivered lightly, but it wasn't from the wind. Warmth spread from the base of her back, to her chest, and for a split second she felt her breath escape her.

The strange, but not entirely unpleasant feeling only lasted a few seconds before it disappeared. Raven looked around the empty roof. What was that?

"I'm obviously not going to get any meditation done up here today," Raven mumbled to herself. "I'll just go down to the main room."

-

Beast Boy watched Happy as she cheerfully skipped through her pink realm, humming a lively song. It was hard to imagine that the girl in front of him was any part of Raven. The school girl outfit didn't help much.

"Come on, BB! The next portal's right over here!" Happy exclaimed, pointing down a long stretch of path. He could see the plain stone archway in the distance.

They ran down the path, and stopped in front of the arch.

"You go first," offered Beast Boy. Happy smiled and walked closer to the portal.

"Oh, great portal," she chanted, holding her hands up, "Gateway to the realms, I ask you to bring us to the humble territory of Knowledge!"

Beast Boy watched her in amazement.

"Wow! Does that actually work?" he asked. Why hadn't Affection just done that in the first place?

"No," giggled Happy, "It's just fun to do."

Beast Boy laughed, following her as she stepped through the stone arch.

Looking around his new surroundings, Beast Boy couldn't help but laugh out loud.

An orange sky looked down at them, full of off-white clouds. The ground, well, he couldn't really see the ground through the mess. Take-out containers (how this emotion got take-out in Raven's mind, he would never know), grubby books, and various other debris were scattered everywhere, leaving little walking space.

"And Raven says my room's a mess," Beast Boy chuckled, nudging a dirty orange sock that stayed glued to the ground.

"My realm's not a mess; it's just a bit disorganised at the moment," replied one of Raven's doppelgangers, wading through the garbage to see them.

"Your realm has been 'a bit disorganised' since you got here," pointed out Happy, giggling.

"So, why this unexpected visit? If I had known you were coming, I might have cleared a spot," drawled the emotion sarcastically. Despite the fact that her tone clearly told them she wouldn't have cleaned up for anyone, she carelessly kicked some things out of Beast Boy's path, allowing him to walk over to a nearby orange couch.

"We're looking for Knowledge, or Wisdom," explained Beast Boy, taking in the emotion's clothing. Her outfit seemed to have changed as well.

She wore a pair of baggy jeans that were starting to slide down to reveal a pair of orange cotton underwear. The jeans were ripped in quite a few places, and the fly needed to be done up. Her loose T-shirt appeared to have been light orange, but now had several darker orange stains that covered most of it.

"Haven't seen 'em," the girl replied, picking up a half empty take-out box and checking the contents with a sniff. It seemed to pass her inspection, and she dug her fingers into it.

"Which emotion are you?" asked Beast Boy, watching the emotion lower wiggling noodles into her mouth with her fingers.

"Rude," she introduced herself with a burp. Wiping her greasy fingers on her shirt, she walked over to Beast Boy and held out her hand for him to shake. Beast Boy declined the hand. Shrugging, she let her hand drop. "I guess your looking for ol' four-eyes because of the change in clothing?"

"Yup!" Happy agreed, "I bet you want to find them, too. You can see every stain you make on that shirt!"

Rude looked down at her splotched shirt and shrugged.

"I like it this way," she replied.

"How did you make all those stains? The uniforms only changed a while ago," Beast Boy inquired. He looked at the shirt in amazement; even he couldn't spill that much in only a few hours.

"Some of them have been there since the change. I did make a couple though… This one's from some pizza sauce I slopped after the first flash," Rude informed him, pointing at one stain, before pointing at another, "And this one's from orange pop. This one I got from… actually, I don't know what that one is."

"Enough chit-chatting!" Happy broke in, while Rude sniffed the mystery stain, "Let's go find Wisdom and Knowledge!"

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed, following Happy in the direction of another portal. "Maybe we'll get to see some other emotions! If everyone's outfit is changing, it would even be fun to see Anger!"

"The day seeing Anger is fun is the day my realm appears in a Mr. Clean commercial," Rude grumbled, following the other two.

* * *

Here it is: the second chapter! Infinite thanks to Regrem for proofreading it several billion times to get it just right.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. It's always appreciated.

Tammy Tamborine


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

"If you're _Happy_ and you know it, clap your hands!"

Rude rolled her eyes as Beast Boy and Happy broke out on another off key round of the children's song. They had tried to get Rude to join in by singing 'If you're Rude and you know it,' but she hadn't taken the bait.

"In case you're too happy to know it, we've reached the next door," Rude informed them, gesturing to the large stone portal.

Beast Boy laughed and looked at Rude.

"Yeah, we noticed," he assured her, turning to face the arch. Taking a deep breath, he walked through the rock gateway, Happy and Rude not far behind him.

On the other side, Beast Boy found himself standing in the middle of a wide area of flat rock. The sky above him was the same infinite expanse of darkness as when he had first arrived in Raven's head. Happy walked through next, followed by Rude, who looked around and groaned.

"Brace yourselves," she said, placing one hand on the gateway behind her. Before Beast Boy could ask her what she meant, the ground underneath began to shake. Beast Boy yelped and threw himself to the ground, covering his head with his arms.

When the trembling had ceased, the changeling stood up and took in his new surroundings. Around them, thick, cement walls had risen from the ground. He recognised it as Timid's maze.

"I guess we should try to find the 'fraidy cat'. She's the only one who can find her way around here, other than Raven," Rude commented.

"H-hi. I'm over here," a timid voice called out. They turned around to find a small grey form huddled in a corner of the maze. No one had seen her at first, as she was half-hidden in shadows, and the grey outfit she wore blended into the cement walls.

Beast Boy took a step closer, and took in her new outfit. Worn grey-wash jeans and a large grey hoodie had replaced her usual leotard and cloak. The hood was up, covering her face in shadows, and a light grey sweater peeked out from underneath it.

"Figures her outfit would still cover her up," Rude remarked.

Timid sniffed. Beast Boy watched as she glanced uneasily at her new clothes, and in a brief moment of enlightenment and empathy, Beast Boy realised that she was probably afraid they didn't like her change of clothing.

"Don't take what she says too seriously, Timid," Beast Boy said, inching towards her. He kneeled down and rested a comforting hand on her arm. "I like your outfit. It suits you."

"R-really?" Timid asked, wiping her eyes.

"Really," Beast Boy assured her. The shy emotion smiled a bit, glad for the cover of her hood. Beast Boy smiled, but a small movement caught his eye. Looking down at her outfit, Beast Boy's face scrunched in confusion.

"Um… Timid, is it just me, or did your clothes just shrink?"

"What?" asked Timid, looking down at her attire. Her eyes widened as she saw the small but noticeable change in her outfit. The pants were a bit tighter, stretching across her legs closer than they had before. Underneath her hoodie, Timid could feel that the sweater was beginning to grow a bit tight around her arms, although there were still a few good inches between her skin and the material.

A shout of laughter turned their attention over to Happy. The pink emotion was inspecting her skirt, which was at least half an inch shorter, judging by the distance between the hemline and her knee socks. Her blouse was more form fitting as well.

A quick glance at Rude showed that her outfit had changed as well. Her jeans had become tighter, hugging her hips and thighs a bit more. Her shirt looked like it had gone through the wrong washing cycle and shrunk, but not dramatically so (Although, Rude's clothing couldn't be expected to go anywhere near a washing machine).

"I guess it's another one of those changes," Beast Boy mused, standing up, and offering a hand to Timid. She looked at his hand hesitantly before accepting it and standing up as well.

"Are you looking for Knowledge and Wisdom?" Timid asked softly, looking at each of them from under her hood.

"We sure are!" Happy chirped.

Timid nodded and silently walked past them.

"Follow me."

-

Beast Boy watched with little interest as Timid led them through her maze. At first he had paid close attention to each turn they made, wondering in amazement how Timid remembered her way around this place, when there was nothing to indicate where they were going or where they had been. Now, he was pretty sure she was just guessing.

"So…" Beast Boy began, wanting to break the silence. "Wanna hear a joke?"

"Not really," replied Rude.

"Yeah!" Happy exclaimed enthusiastically, "Tell us a joke, BB."

"Okay. What happens when a paranoid man has low self-esteem?" he paused while Happy pretended to look thoughtful, "He thinks that nobody important is out to get him!"

The joke sent Happy into thrilled bouts of laughter. Beast Boy smiled and looked over at Rude to gauge her reaction. She rolled her eyes.

"You can do a lot better than that," Rude informed him. When he shrugged and looked away though, she allowed herself a small smile.

Beast Boy looked over at Timid. Her shoulders seemed to have tensed a bit, and Beast Boy wondered if that had been the best joke to tell around someone so… timid and low on self-esteem.

"Oops," Beast Boy muttered. He ran ahead and caught up to Timid. She kept her eyes on her feet while she walked. "Sorry."

"F-for what?" Timid asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

"I didn't mean anything by the joke," he told her, watching her face carefully, "You're great, really."

A light blush spread across Timid's features, unnoticed because of the hood hiding her face.

"I'm not…" she replied quietly, taking a quick glance back at Happy and Rude. They seemed to be listening to the exchange.

"You are," Beast Boy insisted, "You care about others' feelings. You think before you speak- which is something I've never really got the hang of- and you're just a great person… uh, emotion."

"Aww, it's so nice of you to try to cheer up Timid like that," Happy cooed. Rude nodded, rolling her eyes and smiling lightly, and Timid blushed.

As she blushed though, she felt her clothing shift. Looking down, she saw that her pants looked more like women's jeans; tightening a bit around the knees, while a bit wider near the bottom. Her sweater underneath the hoodie felt closer to her waist, and the hoodie was starting to dip- almost unnoticeably- around the sides of her waist, making it look like she had some semblance of an hourglass figure underneath.

Peeking behind her, Timid examined Happy and Rude's clothing.

Happy's skirt had become another half-inch shorter. Her shirt was no longer long enough to tuck into her skirt, but it still wasn't short enough to see her midriff, and it seemed a bit tighter.

Rude's T-shirt was smaller, and her jeans were tighter around her hips and thighs, although she still had a bit of loose material.

To her right, Beast Boy had noticed the changes as well.

"We're getting off track," Beast Boy said, suddenly nervous when he realised they had slowed down a bit, "We have to find Knowledge and Wisdom quickly!"

With that, Beast Boy ran forward and around a corner, images of emotions with slowly receding clothing, and Raven wanting to kill him for entering her mind in the first place speeding him up.

The three emotions stopped briefly as they watched the green boy disappear from their sight.

Roughly ten seconds later, he came back around the corner and walked back to them.

"I thought you went to look for Knowledge and Wisdom?" Happy asked, amused at his display.

"Hehe… yeah, about that," Beast Boy laughed nervously, "I forgot one thing."

"And that is?" Rude asked, smirking.

"I don't know my way out of here to start lookin'."

Happy giggled, and Beast Boy humbly asked Timid to finish leading the way.

-

As Raven walked down the hallway, towards the main room, she felt a small bit of uncertainty. What if no one wanted to be around her? What if they didn't like her clothing?

'What the hell?' Raven thought, 'Where did that come from?'

Shaking her head, she continued her trek slowly, although that smidgen of doubt and timidity didn't seem to want to leave.

Suddenly, she stopped.

'What was that?' she thought. She felt like a hand was resting on her shoulder. Looking over, she didn't see anything. Well, that was sufficiently creepy.

"Some people see things, some people hear things… and now, I'm _feeling_ things," Raven muttered, taking a step forward.

Raven continued to walk through the halls, vaguely wondering how there could be so many corners in a 'T' shaped building, when she paused, feeling the small bit of timidity rising again. Why did she suddenly feel as though someone was making fun of her?

"What's with me today? This is getting ridiculous. You'd think my emotions were going haywire," the empath muttered, growing slightly frustrated with her jumping emotions.

"I may as well have schizophrenia already; why not add paranoia to the list?" Raven muttered, as she finished her abnormally long trip to the main room and stopped in front of the sliding doors. Taking a breath to compose herself, she opened the door and walked into the common room.

-

Timid stopped. She stood in front of a plain stone wall, exactly like all the others. Slowly, she turned around.

"We're almost at the portal," she told them quietly.

"Great! Open 'er up, and let's go!" exclaimed Beast Boy, taking a step forward. He failed to notice Timid's hesitant expression.

"What's wrong with you?" Rude asked, drawing his attention to Timid's expression.

"Well, it's just… the guardian statue has reformed itself," she informed them, looking down at her feet.

"That creepy statue thing that tried to kill me and Cyborg is back!"

Timid gave Beast Boy a small nod of confirmation, still staring intently at the ground.

"How are we supposed to get passed that meanie?" asked Happy, grin never leaving her face.

"We can get passed it if we're very quiet," Timid replied, her voice lowering even as she spoke.

"You've got to be kidding me. You mean, all someone has to do is tip-toe passed it?" asked Rude, disbelief dripping in her words.

"Dude, we can totally handle that. Right, Happy?" Beast Boy grinned, lightly nudging Happy in the side with his elbow.

"Yeah! This is going to be fun!" the pink emotion agreed, clapping her hands.

"At least it'll get her to shut-up for five minutes," Rude murmured to Timid, nodding her head in Happy's direction. Timid didn't reply.

Weakly, she lifted a finger to her lips for silence and gently touched the wall in front of her.

The stone wall shifted until there was a clear space that lead to the next portal. Between them and the arch stood two tall statues, facing each other with their heads turned toward the group. The statues simultaneously grinned and frowned at them as they stood there, fists clenched menacingly.

"You're sure it won't attack?" Beast Boy whispered into Timid's ear.

Hesitantly, she nodded, "It's sleeping."

Quietly, they inched forward. The statues remained motionless. They each took a small step out of the maze, each watching the stone faces for any sign of movement.

Beast Boy walked over to them first.

Unconsciously, his feet stopped, and he stood in front of the guardian. The statues loomed over him, casting a shadow across Beast Boy ominously. Hardly daring to breathe, Beast Boy slowly edged between the statues. There was a horrible moment when Beast Boy felt as though one of the statue's stone fists would come crashing down on him, but nothing happened. Never turning his back on more than one of the statues, Beast Boy slowly made his way between the guardian. Its eyes glowered at him, but it hadn't moved.

Letting go of his breath in silent relief, Beast Boy waved for the emotions to join him. Rude slouched past them quickly, hardly sparing a glance at the statues. True, bravery wasn't her trait, but she had seen Beast Boy go around with no problem and knew that nothing would happen to her either as long as she stayed quiet.

Happy came next, tip-toeing passed the statue, and smothering giggles in her hand. When she walked around it, she couldn't resist sticking her tongue out at the slumbering guard. Her own actions caused a small giggle to escape her lips. Frantically, she covered her mouth with her hand. Everyone watched the statue intently, but it didn't wake.

Eyes twinkling with laughter, she finished her trip over, and they all turned to wait for Timid.

The grey emotion hesitated before slowly creeping forward. After a couple minutes of her reluctant pace, she reached the statues. She stopped in front of the staring statues, and the guardians stared back it her, frightening her with its stony intensity. Her eyes travelled from its face, to its open palms- if it woke up, all it had to do was use its crimson magic to make a granite sword appear in its hand. As she looked at its threatening hands, her breath hitched as one stone finger began to twitch lightly.

The group on the other side watched intently, noticing the small movement as well. Even Happy was sobered as they concentrated on the timid emotion standing paralysed with fear.

The statue's finger slowly lowered. Its fingers curled into a fist, before they loosened and a low rumbling sound emitted from the statues. It was snoring!

The tension in the air fell, and Rude, Beast Boy, and Happy all smiled in silent celebration. A quick glance at Beast Boy's encouraging face helped Timid move between the statues and back away from them, trembling all the while.

When she reached them, huddled in her hoodie, Happy and Beast Boy pulled her and Rude into a group hug. Patting each other's backs, and whispering small praise to Timid -who still looked quite shaken up- as they walked through the next portal.

"Where are we now?" asked Beast Boy when he arrived on the other side. Tall trees surrounded them on all sides, blocking out much of the sunlight. Shadows made everything seem forbidding. Sounds of large animals and unknown creatures reached their ears. A quick glance at Timid showed that the emotion was strongly resisting the urge to curl up in the fetal position.

"B-b-b-" Timid tried to reply, but every sound and movement made her jump.

"Brave," Rude answered for her, "She thinks it's adventurous. I think she just likes to flaunt her bravery by fighting all the mind creatures in here."

"Hey, I'm brave, not conceited," replied the emotion in question, stepping out of the foliage. She walked over confidently, wearing her new outfit like a medal.

Like the others, her cloak had disappeared. Her usual leotard had been exchanged for a forest green karate outfit. The pants, however, came down to a little above her ankles, making it look like she had had a sudden growth spurt. The button-less green shirt was held together by a matching belt, and a slightly green-tinged T-shirt peeked out through the gap by her collar.

"Come on, we should get out of here before Timid wets herself," Rude muttered, jerking a thumb in Timid's direction.

"She can barely stand it out here; you think she can handle going further in?" asked Brave, puffing her chest out, "Not everyone's _that_ brave. Why do you need to go through here anyway?"

"We're trying to find Knowledge and Wisdom," Beast Boy answered, "We want to find out why the outfits keep changing."

"Well, then I guess you really are out of luck. The next portal is in the middle of the forest," Brave replied, "To get there you'd have to pass giant spiders, tigers, quicksand, and tons of other things of that nature. Do you think you can handle it?"

A whimper from Timid proved that they probably couldn't.

"Don't worry, Timid," Beast Boy cooed, placing a hand on Timid's shoulder, "Nothing's going to hurt you. I'll make sure of it."

The trembling emotion looked into Beast Boy's sincere eyes and nodded lightly, although she was still a bit reluctant to feel safe anywhere in this nightmarish jungle.

"Oh crap," Rude's voice echoed around the small clearing. Her blunt words expressed everyone's thoughts as the emotions looked down to see that their outfits had changed once again.

Beast Boy quickly examined everyone's outfits. Happy's blouse was beginning to fit a bit more snug around her chest and waist, although it wasn't tight quite yet. Her skirt had grown another inch shorter, and Beast Boy had to force himself not to stare at her legs peeking out between the skirt and knee socks.

'Get a grip, Beast Boy. You see Raven's legs all the time,' he thought to himself, 'Although, she never wears knee socks…'

Shaking his head free from that weird thought, he looked over at Rude.

Her pants had grown tighter as well, and the rips seemed to be getting bigger, showing more patches of skin. Her T-shirt was a bit tighter too, Beast Boy noted in what he hoped wasn't a 'pervert-staring-at-girls'-clothing' way.

Timid's jeans had grown even tighter around her hips and thighs. The bottom of her hoodie now only reached the middle of her hips, and the grey material didn't seem as thick, hinting that the sweater underneath had grown a bit tighter also. Taking a quick look at her face, Beast Boy noticed Timid's eyes widen as she frantically glanced around the inside of her hood. Looking closer, Beast Boy could see that her hood had shrunk a bit with the hoodie, hiding less of her face, and barely staying on her head.

Squeezing Timid's shoulder lightly to calm her down, Beast Boy looked over at Brave. Her karate outfit wasn't as loose as it had been, and her pants now looked more like Capri pants. The V-shaped neckline seemed to be growing deeper, and would have showed a bit more of the area under her neck if it weren't for the tight T-shirt underneath.

"Now, we really have to find them," Beast Boy said, referring to Knowledge and Wisdom, "Are you sure there isn't a safe way out of here?"

Brave thought for a moment, a look of doubt crossing her features.

"Come on, Bravey, baby. There's gotta be a nicer way out of this forest and into the next portal," Happy reasoned, giggling at her own nickname for the green emotion. Brave frowned a bit.

"Yeah, I suppose. There is one path that only has a few death traps and monsters, but that one isn't nearly as much fun as the others," Brave replied, "And I still don't think you could handle it alone."

"Well, than you should come with us," Beast Boy jumped in, grinning, "You can help us get past everything, and then, you can come with us to find Knowledge and Wisdom."

"Sounds good," she replied, "Now, come on. The path is right over here."

Pushing away a large bush, the green clad emotion revealed a hidden pathway that seemed almost completely unused. After a small shove from Rude, Timid stood up and peeked into the new path. Deciding it was slightly less intimidating than the rest of Brave's realm, Timid nodded, and they began walking down the path.

As they were walking, loud roars echoed through the jungle, causing Timid to jump.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my," Rude joked, looking speculatively at an old tree, covered in knots that twisted into a demented glare. Timid pulled a face and looked over at Brave, wondering if there was some truth in Rude's sarcasm.

"There aren't any bears," Brave replied. Timid sighed in relief. "There are a few man-eating chimeras, though."

Timid's face paled, and Beast Boy laughed lightly before taking a step closer to her. "She was joking. Besides, we can handle a few man-eating chimeras," Beast Boy assured Timid, "I won't let them near you."

Brave rolled her eyes. She decided that it probably wouldn't do much good to inform Timid that, in fact, she had been serious. Still, it was nice of Beast Boy to help Timid out. Looking down, Brave frowned as she noticed her pants and shirt tightening, almost unnoticeably. Looking around, no one else seemed to have noticed, so she kept her mouth clamped. Maybe they really should find Knowledge and Wisdom quickly.

-

Raven looked around the common room. It was empty, except for Silkie, who was chewing on something in the corner of the room. Sitting down on the couch, Raven opened up a book and began to read.

She was just getting into it when she snapped the book shut. Was it just her, or was it suddenly getting very scary? Loosening her grip, Raven dropped the book on the coffee table and groaned.

What was wrong with her today? She had been reading a description of the forest the main characters in her book had to travel through, and suddenly, she had been near hyperventilating! After a while, another invisible hand pressed down on her shoulder, and Raven felt her heart beat slow down.

Leaning over to pick up her book, Raven began to feel panic bubbling in her again. She pulled her hand away from the book. After another quick squeeze from the invisible warmth, Raven felt completely calm again.

Rolling her eyes, Raven snatched up her book again. Angrily burying her face into the pages, she continued to read.

* * *

Here it is! The third chapter is complete. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you all rock. I hope you liked this chapter. It's longer than I thought it would be, but with a lot of help from Regrem Erutaerc, I think it turned out pretty well. Of course, I'd love to hear what you all think.;)

Tammy Tamborine


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

"How much further do we have to go?" Beast Boy asked, turning from the side of a cliff to look at Brave. The green clad emotion shrugged, leaning against a nearby tree.

"Not far. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes once we cross this bridge," she replied, nodding at the log stretched across the chasm that had opened in their path.

"Which should only take an hour or two, by the time we get Timid across," Rude commented dryly, nodding at the trembling emotion. Timid had inched her way over to the edge, only to scramble back after seeing how far down it went.

"Don't worry. I'll help her across," Beast Boy offered.

"Aw! That's so nice of you, Beast Boy!" Happy squealed, smiling widely.

"Are you sure?" Brave asked uncertainly, "You might end up falling yourself while helping her." Rude and Happy nodded in agreement

"Totally. I'll make sure that Timid makes it to the other side, even if I have to risk falling to help her across," Beast Boy assured them, before adding with some embarrassment, "Besides, even if I do fall, I can just turn into a bird, right?"

"That's pretty brave of you," Brave stated, looking at Beast Boy with a slight hint of admiration, "Really kind of you, too. Thanks."

"No problem," Beast Boy replied, smiling humbly. As he said it, each emotion looked down at her clothing, feeling them tighten and shorten slightly.

"Is it just me, or is my shirt a bit smaller?" asked Rude, looking down at her stained shirt.

"All of our outfits shrunk a bit again," Brave replied, inspecting everyone's clothes with a keen eye, "We should get going."

Without hesitation, the green emotion jumped onto the log and strode confidently across to the other side. On the other side, she turned around and looked at the others.

"Come on! Last one over is a rotten egg," Brave mock-challenged.

Giggling, Happy took a step onto the makeshift bridge. Taking a deep breath, she carefully made her way across. Once she had reached the end of the log, she jumped to the ground in a burst of excited laughter.

Rude came next. Walking onto the log, she made her way across, making sure she didn't look down. Instead, she looked straight ahead, trying to appear detached and bored as she crossed the large gap in the ground.

"Okay, Timid, we've gotta go now," Beast Boy said calmly, taking a step onto the log. He turned, so his back was facing the other side, and held out his hands for Timid.

Trembling, Timid grasped his hands and placed a foot on the log. Beast Boy nodded appraisingly.

"Good. Now the other foot," he encouraged her softly.

She nodded and shakily placed the other foot on the log. Taking a quick glance behind him, Beast Boy took another step across the log. After a bit of urging from Beast Boy, Timid took another uncertain step as well.

They slowly made their way across the log, until they had made it halfway across.

"We're halfway there," Beast Boy informed her happily, "It shouldn't be too long now."

Timid nodded lightly, making sure her eyes didn't stray from Beast Boy's face. She had made it this far without looking down or getting too scared, so she could make it the rest of the way, right?

Spoke too soon.

As Timid took her next step, a loud crack emitted from the old log. While the others could tell that the crack hadn't been big, and it wasn't any more dangerous than before, the sound caused Timid to look down in shock.

Her stomach churned as she stared down at the endless pit below her. She watched as a small piece of bark- the reason for the cracking sound- fell into the darkness and out of sight. As she stared, her vision began to blur with frightened tears.

"Timid, look at me. Don't look down," Beast Boy's calm voice pulled her from her terror slightly, as she was able to look back at his caring face. "Now, take another step. The faster we get across, the sooner we get to leave this realm."

Taking a weak breath, she nodded. Thinking of Beast Boy's promise that they would leave soon, she took a quick step forward. As she placed her foot down, however, rotting bark under her foot shifted. With a small yelp, she flailed her arms around as her foot slipped off the log.

Reacting quickly, Beast Boy grabbed one of her arms and helped her steady herself, sacrificing his own balance while he did so.

With wide eyes, the emotions watched as his feet slipped off either side of the log. With a painful thud, the log stopped his decent. The three emotions on the other side hissed as he landed, straddling the tree trunk.

"That's gotta hurt," Rude muttered, while Brave and Happy nodded.

"A-are you all right?" Timid asked him worriedly as he slowly lifted himself up.

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice a few decibels higher than usual. Coughing lightly, he insisted, "Really. Let's just keep going."

Shaking more than she had before, Timid nodded, and they finished crossing quickly and carefully.

Once they had reached the other side, Timid collapsed to the ground, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane. Laughing lightly, Beast Boy kneeled down and patted her on the back.

"You did great," he told her.

"You too," Brave complimented, walking over with Happy and Rude at her heels, "I didn't know you were _that_ serious about saving her."

"I wouldn't let any of you get hurt," he replied, grinning self-consciously.

Happy grinned, while Brave and Rude looked satisfied, and slightly embarrassed, with his reply. Timid's shaking diminished slightly, and Beast Boy blushed when he realized what he had said.

"I mean it-" he began assuring them that what he said was true, but he was cut off by a sudden change in their clothing.

With a small gasp, Timid watched as her already straining hood fell off her head and shrunk so that when she pulled it back on, it didn't cast a shadow over her face. Her gray jeans were close to becoming hip huggers, and the sweater under her hoodie was beginning to touch her skin.

Brave watched calmly as her pant legs raised until they reached the middle of her calf. The sleeves of her gi ended higher up her arm, just short of becoming quarter-length, and the pale green T-shirt underneath grew a bit tighter.

A small ripping sound caused Rude to look down at her pants as the holes in her jeans became a bit larger, and the material became tighter. Her T-shirt was beginning to stretch across her chest in a more obvious way.

Happy watched in amusement as her skirt shortened until it rested half an inch above the top of her knees. Her blouse became a bit tighter, fitting more closely around her waist than it had before.

"Great," Beast Boy groaned, "Another change. I guess we should keep trying to find Knowledge and Wisdom."

"What do you think we've been doing for the past few hours?" Rude quipped, before turning to Brave, "Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way."

Happy smiled and followed Brave and Rude. Beast Boy started forward, before stopping and turning to Timid.

"Coming?" he asked her. The gray emotion nodded and stood up, pulling at her hood in a futile attempt to cover her face more. Beast Boy smiled, and they followed the others. Timid stayed by his side, casting nervous glances at the green boy.

'What if he doesn't like the new changes? He might think it's too revealing…' she thought self-consciously. Her worries dimmed a bit as he flashed a small grin at her from the side, but of course, if they went away completely, we wouldn't be dealing with Timid, would we?

"You all right, Timid?" Beast Boy asked, noticing her nervous behavior.

"Y-yeah," she stammered. Looking at the ground, she tugged at her hood.

"You seem worried," Beast Boy told her, "What's the matter?"

"It- It's nothing," Timid replied, "It's just…"

"What?" Beast Boy asked, stopping and turning to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him.

A blush crossed the timid emotion's features, and she nervously replied, "M-my outfit… my outfit… you probably don't like it."

"What? No, of course I do," Beats Boy assured her hurriedly, "It's very… you. I like it a lot."

Timid looked down and cast him an unsure glance from beneath her eyelashes.

"Really," Beast Boy continued, "You look great." Beast Boy smiled when a dark blush appeared on her face.

"Thank you," Timid replied quietly.

Suddenly, her hood fell off completely, shrinking so that it was nothing more than a flap of material at the back of her neck. The rest of her outfit began to change as well, the pants growing tighter, and the hoodie dipping closer to her waist.

As they watched the changes with wide eyes, up ahead someone gave a small shout, "Not again!"

They turned around to see Rude examining her clothing with an exasperated expression on her face. The waist of her pants was lower on her hips, and her T-shirt just barely reached her jeans with the sleeves having become shorter.

The hem of Happy's skirt now rested an inch above her knees, and her blouse was noticeably tighter, and shorter in the sleeves.

Brave's pants had grown tighter around her hips, and the legs were only a few inches away from the bottom of her knees. Her T-shirt was much tighter, and the neckline of her dark green gi was beginning to dip lower.

"We'd better hurry," Beast Boy said, looking at each emotion. They all nodded, and Happy, Rude, and Brave continued walking at a slightly faster pace.

"Coming?" asked Beast Boy, turning to Timid and offering his hand. She nodded shyly, taking his hand hesitantly, and they followed the others quickly.

-

Raven looked up from her book as another odd wave of emotion washed over her. Terror was the first thing she felt, making her feel paralyzed on the couch. The feeling filled her for several minutes, before others replaced it. Admiration and gratitude, with a small hint of embarrassment, if she wasn't mistaken. Her cheeks grew warm, and she realized to her great annoyance that she was blushing.

"What the hell?" she muttered angrily. Grumbling, she put her book down and stared irately at the wall. Something was against her meditating and reading today.

"Well, whatever's going on, it can't stop me from meditating if I want to," Raven mumbled stubbornly, "That should stop these stupid flashes of emotion."

Shifting into a meditative position, Raven closed her eyes and began chanting.

She continued to chant when she heard the door hiss open behind her.

Gasping, Starfire swooped past the meditating empath and picked up Silkie, who had moved from the corner, and was now chewing on one of the coffee table legs.

"Bad Silkie," the Tameranian scolded, picking up her pet, "The table of coffee is not for your consumption."

Suddenly, Raven let out a small gasp. Starfire looked over at her in surprise, unused to hearing Raven gasp during meditation.

Raven looked over at Starfire, as she realized that she had gasped out loud. A sudden surge of trepidation had surprised the gasp out of her. As Starfire looked at her questioningly, that trepidation grew, and was soon accompanied by uncertainty.

It was then that Raven noticed the invisible hands had returned, and were resting on her shoulders. Slowly, her unease turned to comfort and modesty, and another blush spread across her face.

Feeling her face heat up, Raven scowled. Starfire continued to stare at her, puzzlement evident on her pretty features.

"Friend Raven, are you all right?" she questioned, looking at Raven with concern.

"Uh… yes," Raven replied hesitantly. Starfire scrutinized Raven's face carefully, not completely believing Raven's answer.

"All right," she shrugged at last, "Come, Silkie, your knorf'ka Starfire will make you some delicious sustenance for your tummy."

Taking a deep breath, Raven forced herself to calm down a bit, before returning to her meditation.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

-

"Okay everyone, eyes and ears open. We're entering chimera territory," Brave commanded, glancing back at the others. She stopped and looked back at them when everyone came to an abrupt halt. "What?"

"Chimera territory?" Beast Boy parroted, "I thought you were joking!"

"I leave the joking to Happy," Brave replied, "Besides, what's the big deal? We probably won't run into any."

A rustle in a nearby bush caused everyone (except for Brave) to jump, and Timid to whimper and jump behind Beast Boy.

"Okay, so maybe I spoke to soon," Brave admitted, calmly moving into a fighting stance.

Moving closer, Beast Boy shifted into a green tiger and crouched next to Brave, facing the bush.

Almost immediately, a large monster jumped out, snarling. With a shout, Timid jumped behind Happy and Rude. Happy giggled nervously, and Rude's eyes widened as they stared at the monstrous creature.

It glared at them with beady, lightly glowing eyes, placed on a flat face with a snarling, fanged mouth. The top half of its body was muscular and reminiscent of a Bigfoot, with crimson fur and dark gray skin. Dangerous blades grew out of its mane of spiky hair.

Armor covered its chest and back, and the breastplate looked like an inverted triangle with an ovular gem set in the center. The sections between its neck and shoulders had blades protruding from them, which curved backwards. Segmented blades, with outwards facing tips jutted out of its shoulder. Growing out of its ape-like arms were blades, textured to appear almost like rock, with the final one growing from the back of its large fist, shaped like a three bladed spearhead.

The bottom half of the monster was covered in armor-like skin. Besides looking segmented, it mostly appeared smooth and sharp. A long rattlesnake-like tail, armed with a cylindrical club of blades on the end, twisted around behind six legs, covered in segmented blades.

"What the hell is that?" Beast Boy yelped, shifting back into his human form.

"That's the Ape Scorpian," Brave replied calmly, "Pretty cool, eh?"

"Yeah… if it weren't going to attack us, it _would_ be really cool," Beast Boy replied, staring at its many deadly blades.

"Just don't look into the gem on its chest," Brave warned, "It came from its fusion with a basilisk; it'll turn you to stone."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beast Boy replied, before shifting into a bat.

Gliding upward, Beast Boy let out a shrill screech before swooping towards the Ape Scorpian. He pulled out of his dive abruptly to avoid being skewered as the chimera extended its head, snarled threateningly and swung one of its arms, blades sticking out like giant needles.

As Beast Boy pulled back from its attack, Brave ran forward. With a short war cry, she delivered a strong kick to its chest. Her leg shook from the impact, but the Ape Scorpian was naturally armored, and seemed unharmed.

"I'm thinking they're going to need help," Rude groaned, watching as Beast Boy dove in and out, and Brave continued to kick at its armored chest. Cracking her knuckles, she ran towards the monster and slammed her fist into its chest.

"Oww…"

"I think you might need some help as well," Happy giggled, before running into the brawl.

Changing into a hawk, Beast Boy flew out of the monster's reach and examined the scene.

Rude and Happy were hitting and kicking at the Ape Scorpian's chest, being careful not to look into its gem. Brave had obviously decided that it wasn't doing anything and was circling the monster. Slowly, she approached the monster from the side so she could attempt to climb onto its back. A small movement from the monster's tail caught Beast Boy's keen eyes, and he screeched a warning to Brave. She didn't seem to notice however.

Launching himself forward, Beast Boy plunged towards the Ape Scorpian's tail. As he neared the ground, he shifted into a gorilla and caught the monster's tail in his large hands, just as it was swinging toward Brave.

Brave turned around to see Beast Boy struggling to keep the tail at a safe distance as the end of its mace-like tail swung at his head. Seeing his arms beginning to shake, she rushed forward and helped hold the tail away from them.

Brave gave Beast Boy a small smile, which he returned as best as he could in his animal form, and looked back at the monster's tail. Her eyes widened as she saw energy gathering around its tail. She opened her mouth to warn Beast Boy, but she wasn't fast enough.

With an explosion of energy from the end of its tail, the Ape Scorpian knocked Beast Boy back, forcing him to revert back to human form. The attack also hit Brave, Happy, and Rude, stunning them momentarily. With the three emotions stunned, the Ape Scorpian turned its full attention onto Beast Boy.

Beast Boy stared at the Ape Scorpian. The monster's last attack had winded him, and he struggled to regain his breath as its massive tail was swung towards him. Beast Boy's eyes widened as its spiked tail came nearer.

"NOOO!"

A shriek filled the air, and the monster stopped its attack, tail only inches away from Beast Boy's head. The Ape Scorpian turned around, noticing Timid for the first time.

Gasping, Timid clamped a hand against her mouth. Afraid that she had offended the terrifying monster, she took a step back. With a feral grin, the Ape Scorpian began creeping toward her. Beast Boy was ignored; it had a new target…

As the monster stalked toward her, Timid scrambled back, only to trip over a root poking from the ground.

The monster loomed over her, jaws dripping with saliva. Desperately, she held up an arm to shield her face. The Ape Scorpian lifted one of its giant fists, pointing the three-edged blade that grew from it at Timid.

Just as it was about to bring its fist down on the trembling emotion, a green wolf pounced on its arm. Careful not stab himself with the blades growing from the monster's arm, Beast Boy bit down on its wrist.

With a thunderous roar, the monster shook its arm. Beast Boy clamped on harder while Timid quickly crawled away. Happy quickly engulfed Timid in a hug, while Rude watched the fight between Beast Boy and the Ape Scorpian in fascinated horror. Brave watched, silently cheering for Beast Boy's courage.

Despite the monster's flailing arm, Beast Boy kept his jaw clamped on its arm, but was slowly growing tired. He could feel his teeth slowly slipping off, and with one final shake of its arm, the Ape Scorpian was able to fling Beast Boy headfirst into a nearby tree.

Dizzily, Beast Boy sat up, holding his head. White spots flashed in his eyes, and his head was throbbing painfully. Groaning, he stood up and turned around to face the monster, who growled at him menacingly. Ignoring the pain in his head, Beast Boy transformed into a green bull.

Snorting and kicking some dirt up with his hoof, Beast Boy lowered his sharp horns and charged at the Ape Scorpian. Due to Beast Boy's dizzy charge, the monster easily dodged him. Raising one of its bladed arms, it swiped at the dizzy Beast Boy. The green shape-shifter flew a few feet in the air. With a grunt, Beast Boy fell to the ground and reverted to his normal form.

"Beast Boy!" the four emotions exclaimed. The four emotions watched as he rolled over. Grunting, he tried to lift himself up, but his strength was quickly diminishing after his blow to the head, and with a groan, he passed out.

The emotions quickly ran over to Beast Boy. Brave reached him first, unaccustomed fear speeding her up. The others kneeled down next to her, and quickly checked on Beast Boy. Although the broad side of the blades on the monster's arms had hit him the most, a long cut had been made down his side from the ends of the overlapping blades. Luckily, they weren't deep.

"He'll be fine," Rude informed them after a minute. "We'll need to heal him, but he's-"

A loud roar cut her off, reminding all of them of the monster still standing there. Curling her firsts, Brave stood up and glared at the monster, determination flashing in her eyes.

"You guys focus on making sure BB's all healed up. I've got some unfinished business…" Brave told them, before stomping towards the monster, eyes glowing.

"You know, I'm not usually a very angry emotion," Brave calmly told the chimera, "A little aggressive at times, perhaps, but not angry. However, you've made me angry. First, you attacked me, and my friends." She took a step closer, and the monster began to grow slightly more cautious about the deceptively calm girl in front of it. "Then, you stunned us and went after poor, defenseless Timid." Another step and her voice had a slightly angrier tone to it. "Then, you decide to slam Beast Boy into a tree. And now look what you've done!" By now, the monster was visibly terrified of Brave and the aura she was emitting. With a tremendous war cry, Brave ran toward the monster.

Rude and Happy watched as Brave attack the monster, grimacing at the cacophony of fighting noises in the background, followed by a high-pitched scream.

"Is its limb supposed to bend that way?" Happy asked, wincing. There was another, higher scream, and they both winced. "Or that?" Another scream of sheer pain, and Happy's eyes widened. Rude had a slightly green shade.

"All right, I've seen enough."

"Couldn't agree with you more," Happy said, and they both turned back to Beast Boy.

Timid was already doing her best to heal him through her tears and trembling, and once Happy and Rude joined her, Beast Boy was healed quickly.

Opening his eyes, Beast Boy groaned and sat up. "What's going on?" There was a high shriek, and he turned around just in time to see Brave's final attack on the monster.

The green emotion walked back, confusion spreading across her triumphant face when she saw her slack jawed companions.

"I think I'm going to be sick," said Beast Boy, holding a hand to his mouth.

"Get in line," Rude grumbled.

Shrugging, Brave sat down next to Beast Boy. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I think so," he replied, putting a hand to his head, "Actually, I feel great."

"Good," Brave nodded, "Because if you weren't, I'd have to go back over there and teach that chimera even more of a lesson."

"You did that for me?" Beast Boy asked, looking over at her with wide eyes. Brave grinned.

"Yeah," she replied, "I did. We were all really worried about you."

"Oh. Thanks," Beast Boy smiled and looked down bashfully, "I'm sorry I got in the way."

"You didn't get in the way," Happy assured him. The others nodded their agreement.

"You were actually really brave, BB," Brave told him, smiling at him fondly.

Rude and Happy smiled, and nodded energetically. Timid smiled at him nervously, and gave a light little nod to show that she agreed as well.

Their smiles suddenly stopped however, due to another small change in their clothes.

Next to Beast Boy, Brave watched as her gi became a bit tighter, and the neckline lowered a bit. Her pants grew tighter, causing her to groan, "These are going to get too tight to fight properly."

Brave watched with slight boredom as the bottom of her shirt raised enough to see the smallest sliver of her midriff, and the collar of the T-shirt under her gi widened a bit, and dipped just a little lower.

To her left, Rude looked at her own changes indifferently. Her pants were tighter, and fell lower on her hips. Her T-shirt had also grown a bit shorter, and the short sleeves were shorter and sat on the top of her shoulders. As her shirt grew slightly tighter, the stains that decorated it grew smaller as well, although not too much smaller.

Timid fidgeted uncomfortably as the hood on her hoodie became nothing more than a collar. She could feel the sweater underneath growing tighter with the hoodie. Her jeans were now stretched a bit tighter around her thighs and hips.

Happy giggled at her changes, as her skirt became another half an inch shorter. Her blouse wasn't as loose anymore, and the material seemed just a tad thinner. The loosely knotted necktie was about a centimeter shorter, but the knee socks remained unchanged.

"I want to say it this time," Happy said abruptly.

"Say what?" Beast Boy asked, looking at her questioningly. Happy took a deep breath and recited, "Now we really have to find Knowledge and Wisdom."

Beast Boy laughed, and nodded.

"Yeah, we do. Now, let's move it, troops."

Confidently, he began to walk through the forest, continuing the journey to the next portal.

"Hey, captain? The portals this way," Rude informed him, jerking her thumb in the direction they had been traveling before the chimera attacked.

"I knew that," he insisted, smiling through his embarrassment, as he turned around and walked in the right direction.

-

Raven tapped her finger on her book, patience running thin. It had happened again. She had been reading, minding her own business, when all of a sudden she had another wave of emotion. First, there had been fear. There had been a lot of fear, and surprise. Then, there had been respect, and admiration, followed by more fear and righteous fury. Finally, there had been an enormous feeling of admiration and gratitude.

Of course, she had just been really getting into her meditation when the feelings had struck. It made her wonder if she really wanted to open her book, when more likely than not, she would be interrupted by these stupid sentiments.

"Friend Raven, you are sure you are all right?" Starfire called from the kitchen, "You have been tapping on your book for a while now, and you ceased your meditation most abruptly."

"I'm fine," Raven growled through her teeth, "Just… peachy."

Shrugging, Starfire returned to preparing her pet's meal.

"Just peachy."

-

Purple silk rustled as a very nervous emotion paced in a clearing in her realm.

"Oh no," she muttered, "It didn't work! I can't believe it didn't work…"

She paused, looking at her garb. Her long purple dress had become shorter at the bottom, and now fell just above her ankles. The graceful sleeves that had once reached her wrist now rested a little past her elbows.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her hands and prepared to try again.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She concentrated on her powers, picturing a small sphere of black energy in her mind's eye.

Black magic crackled in between her open palms, not taking the form of anything in particular, before disappearing completely. She looked at her empty hands in confusion. Suddenly, there was a large explosion behind her. Turning around, she watched as a small tree went up in black flames. Okay… not exactly what she had wanted.

Sighing in frustration, Affection stomped out the last of the burning tree and walked in the direction of the nearest portal.

"I just hope things are going better with the others…"

-

"Oooooh… We're off to see the Wisdom, the wonderful Wisdom of Rae!"

"Can someone get her a pair of ruby slippers so she'll go away?" Rude groaned.

"Oh, lighten up a little. You know you want to join in," Happy said, pausing before returning to her song, "She certainly is a wonderful Wis, if ever a Wis there was."

"Are those two always arguing?" Beast Boy asked Brave, amused at the two playfully bantering emotions.

"Pretty much, but they both like it," Brave replied, looking over at Beast Boy before looking back at the sky ahead of them and returning to her thoughts.

'I don't understand what happened back there with the chimera,' Brave thought, watching a pale green sky peek between dark green leaves, 'When Beast Boy got hurt, I felt… not brave. I felt… afraid? Is that possible?

'I shouldn't have. I should have known he would be fine. He had Timid, Happy, and Rude to heal him. Still though, the thought of him not making it…' she shuddered, catching the eye of the green changeling next to her.

"What's wrong?" Beast Boy asked. She looked over at him and considered her words before she replied.

"I was just thinking of the fight with the Ape Scorpian," Brave told him, keeping her face blank.

"About how you kicked its butt?" Beast Boy asked, smiling. Brave gave him a small smile in return but shook her head.

"No, about how you could have been hurt by the chimera. You might have… died, or something." Brave replied. Beast Boy laughed.

"Is that all?" he asked, "You shouldn't worry about me. I was fine. I've got you guys around; how could I not be?"

"But, what if we hadn't been around?" Timid suddenly spoke up, "What if you had been too badly hurt for us to fix you? What if-"

"Calm down, Timid," Beast Boy said, smiling, "Danger is part of the whole super hero business. I risk getting hurt every day. Why should it be any different in here? Besides, when it came down to it, I knew I might have been hurt when I fought the monster, but I would never let that stop me from helping one of you."

"Do you really mean that?" Timid asked. Brave watched him intently, anxious to hear his answer as well.

"Of course," he assured them.

"You'd be willing to risk even something like that just in order to ensure our safety?" Brave asked, a bit skeptical.

"Any day," he replied truthfully, "Any where. Any time."

"Even if you and Raven just had a fight?"

Beast Boy paused, pretending to think hard, before sighing and replying, "Yes. Even then."

"Why?" Brave asked bluntly. Beast Boy was caught by surprise by the question, and it showed clearly on his face, but he quickly recovered.

"Because Raven's my friend. And you're all part of her, so that makes you my friends, too," Beast Boy replied truthfully, "I'd do anything for a friend."

Braved beamed at him, while Timid offered a shy smile for his words.

"You really are a kind and brave person to be willing to help your friends that much," Brave told Beast Boy sincerely.

The green clad emotion looked down suddenly.

"Not again," she muttered.

Her pants had become tighter, and the legs now only came down to less than an inch below her knees. The sleeves of her gi had shortened as well. The neckline now went down to mid chest, and was it just her, or was the material of her T-shirt underneath a bit thinner? Looking up, Brave examined the other grumbling emotions' outfits.

Happy's skirt was shorter by another half an inch, and now rested about two inches above her knees. Her blouse was slightly more form fitting, and the top button was now placed at her collarbone, instead of the base of her neck, where it had started. Once again, the knee socks and necktie hadn't changed much, although the tie seemed a bit shorter.

The sleeves of Rude's shirt were now almost non-existent, making it more like a muscle shirt than a T-shirt. A very small section of her midriff peeked out from underneath Rude's shirt, which Brave knew Beast Boy would be staring at from the corner of his eye when he noticed it. The holes in Rude's pants were much bigger as well, showing large portions of her legs.

Finally, Brave looked over at Timid. The collar that had replaced her hood was now gone completely. The large hood-less hoodie was a bit smaller and slightly more form fitting. Her faded grey jeans sat just a tad lower on her hips, which Timid was quick to hide by pulling the bottom of her hoodie down, so that it also covered her butt, which was becoming more noticeable as her pants tightened.

Brave looked over at Beast Boy, to gauge his reaction. The changeling was taking in the changes, turning his head frantically to see all of them, although he didn't seem extremely surprised.

"Why does this keep happening?" Beast Boy groaned, "And why did this have to start happening when I came into Raven's head? You'd almost think it was my fault that these changes started happening."

There was a pause as they all considered the idea.

"Nah."

"Well, whatever the case, we should really hurry," Rude said after a while.

"We're in luck," Brave added, "The portal's just up ahead."

"Great. Hopefully, it'll lead to Wisdom's or Knowledge's realms," Beast Boy said, speeding up just a bit.

"Last one there gets to help Rude train for her next chimera battle," Happy challenged, running through the bushes, laughing.

Laughing lightly, Beast boy ran after Happy, followed closely by the other emotions. Hopefully, they'd have more luck at the next portal.

-

Raven stood up from the couch with a small sigh of relief. She had just finished meditating without any more of those ridiculous interruptions. She must have got in a good few hours. She looked down at her watched and scowled. She had been meditating for exactly eleven minutes and forty-three seconds.

Still, at least she hadn't had any more emotion flashes for a while.

Stretching, she walked towards the kitchen to make some tea. Starfire was still there, flipping idly through a magazine. Silkie's meal cooked in the oven, letting off a smell of cinnamon, cheese, and horseradish.

Raven silently pulled out her kettle and filled it with water. Placing it on the back burner of the oven, Raven leaned against the counter and waited for it to boil. As she waited, she felt strangely confused. About what, she had no idea. As she contemplated the odd confusion, she also felt a bit perturbed about… something.

Slowly, these feelings began to change into a strong sense of appreciation, respect, and admiration…

That's when it hit her.

"Not again!" she growled, curling her fists angrily. Her small out burst surprised Starfire into looking up from her magazine.

"Raven, you keep telling me you are fine, but I do not think you are. Please, tell me what is the matter?"

"It's nothing," Raven grumbled. Catching Starfire's stern look, she sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it."

The alien's face fell a bit, and she returned to reading. They sat in silence for a while, before Raven spoke again.

"Where are the others?" she asked. Starfire looked and thought for a second before replying.

"Robin and Cyborg are on the roof playing the b-ball, and Silkie and I are right here," the alien smiled.

"What about Beast Boy?"

Starfire's smile changed to a look of confusion.

"You do not know?" she asked.

"Should I?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Starfire replied, "As soon as we arrived back, he left to apologize and make amends with you for the incident earlier in the day, and I have not seen him since."

Raven looked at Starfire in shock. "He what?"

* * *

Hehe, bit of a cliffy, eh?

First off, I'd just like to point out the chimera. Is it not totally awesome! I think you should all know that this monster was created by Regrem Erutaerc! Everyone give him a big round of applause! Seriously, he's got everything about the monster figured out, and he has more of them! Since they're designed for videogames, he already had attacks and everything, so right on for him!

Next, I think I should mention that The Wonderful Wisdom of Rae is not really, completely my idea. It's from a review for the last chapter by Shade Spitfire that both me and Regrem liked. Thank you Shade, I hope you don't mind that we ripped off your idea ;)

That's all I have to say.

Tammy Tamborine


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

"So, let me get this straight. Right after we got back, Beast Boy went to go apologize to me over that small little argument we had earlier?" Raven asked, confirming what the alien had told her.

"Yes," Starfire nodded, slightly confused at Raven's odd reaction. The empath was mostly unreadable on most days, but right now, Starfire didn't have even the slightest clue as to what Raven was feeling.

Even as she let the words sink in, Raven couldn't believe it. Beast Boy had gone to apologize to her right after they got back, but he hadn't been seen since then? Where could he be?

Curiosity, and maybe even a bit of worry, filled Raven as she mulled over her thoughts.

"You… have not seen him?" Starfire asked, guessing at Raven's blank face.

"No," Raven answered simply.

"Perhaps we should go look for him?" Starfire suggested. Raven shook her head.

"No, you should stay here and finish making Silkie's… food," Raven replied, taking a quick glance at the bubbling substance in the oven. "I can do it myself."

"You are sure?" Starfire asked hesitantly. "What if there is trouble? You might need assistance."

"I'll be fine," Raven assured the alien. "And if there's any trouble, I'll have my communicator with me."

"All right," Starfire relented, sensing that Raven wasn't going to change her mind and accept her offer for help.

As the Tameranian uncertainly turned back to her magazine, Raven left the room to search the tower for Beast Boy.

-

Beast Boy looked around the new realm. They seemed to be at the bottom of a tall, round hill. A sense of tranquillity filled him as he looked around the base of the hill. A few insects floated around lazily, and Beast Boy thought he might have seen a small rabbit out of the corner of his eye. All in all, it seemed like nothing could break the calmness of this realm.

As the other emotions looked around, they all let out sighs of relief.

"We're in Wisdom's realm," Brave informed Beast Boy. "No doubt she'll be at the top of the meditation hill."

"You mean we have to climb all that way?" Beast Boy asked, looking up at the large hill.

"Yup," Rude confirmed, before adding sarcastically, "This ought to be fun."

"Aw, come on! Be happy!" Happy told them, a slight lilt in her tone suggesting that she was about to break out in song again.

"Well, I suppose it won't be all bad," Rude mumbled. "At least she'll be too tired to sing."

"Okay, let's get climbing," Brave spoke up, beginning her steady ascent. Happy skipped forward, following Brave up the hill. Timid went next, silently climbing, watching her footing carefully so she wouldn't slip.

"Well, no point dawdling around down here. Let's go," Beast Boy said, motioning for Rude to follow him up. Groaning, Rude reluctantly followed.

They were more than halfway up the hill when Timid stopped and sat down, panting. Calling up to Brave, Rude stopped as well.

"Hold up speedy," she yelled at Brave. "We need a break."

Turning around, Brave looked at her companions. A thin layer of sweat covered Happy's brow, but other than that, she seemed fine. Timid and Rude, however, were both panting heavily, and Beast Boy had taken the opportunity to sit down as well.

"Why? Happy's fine," Brave pointed out impatiently. "And Beast Boy can still go further."

"So? Timid's wearing sweaters, and I'm just lazy, in case you hadn't noticed," Rude replied.

Sighing, Brave relented. "Fine, five minute break. No more than that."

Smiling, Beast Boy leaned back on the rocky hill and watched the realm's wispy clouds float peacefully through the sky. The calm sound of insects made his ears buzz. There was another sound, though, that Beast Boy couldn't quite identify. Closing his eyes, he focused on discerning the sound.

It sounded like… voices?

Opening his eyes, Beast Boy looked at the other emotions. None of them seemed to notice the voices, but that made sense. His hearing was better than their's was, and even he could barely make it out.

Looking up, he still couldn't see the top of the hill. He knew one of the voices had to be Wisdom, but who was the other?

-

Wisdom sat meditating- a common occurrence when she was on her meditation hill- when she was very rudely interrupted by an angry shout from someone behind her.

"Wisdom, get off your ass! I have questions, and I want answers!"

"Hello, Anger," Wisdom greeted calmly, standing up from her meditative position. "You seek answers?"

"No duh," Anger hissed, stomping over to the wise emotion. "First, I want to know why our clothing keeps changing."

"The answer lies in all of us," Wisdom replied, turning around to face the angry emotion. "It is because of all of us, and none of us all at once."

"Quit with the fortune cookie mumbo jumbo," Angry growled, shoving her face closer to Wisdom's. "Answer my question in plain English."

"Calm down, Anger. Everything shall be answered eventually," Wisdom replied evenly, not even batting an eyelash at Anger's intimidating gestures.

"Calm down? You expect me to calm down when my clothes are getting skimpier with every passing second! I mean, the biker girl outfit was actually kind of cool, but this is just getting ridiculous!" Anger roared, motioning at her own clothing.

She wore tight leather pants that were a shade of red so dark that they almost looked black. She wore a matching leather jacket, which no longer rested around her hips, like most biker jackets, but higher up on her waist, and now had quarter length sleeves. Under her jacket was a bright red muscle shirt.

Finishing her quick inspection of Anger's outfit, Wisdom looked down at her own. It had changed since she last looked, but she wasn't surprised as she had felt every change, even during her meditation.

Her loose brown tunic-like shirt had grown tighter since it first appeared. She had started out wearing a long brown skirt, but it was now a semi-short brown skirt, resting in the middle of her knees. The sleeves of the long robes she wore on top were noticeably shorter, not even long enough to cover her wrists if she pulled hard enough to stretch the thick fabric (which was slightly less thick than it had been, now that she thought about it). The sleeves of her tunic shirt underneath her robe were now just barely covering her elbows, and it seemed as if the brown shirt had tightened a bit as well.

"Anger, you must control your temper. No matter what explanations I give you, the situation is not going to change," Wisdom reasoned calmly.

"Don't tell me to control my temper! I can use my temper as much as I like," the red emotion snapped angrily.

"I never said you couldn't," Wisdom replied. "I was merely pointing out-"

"Geez," Anger continued to rant. "It's like ever since Trigon's influence over me was lifted, everyone thinks they can walk all over-"

"Dude! The red guy can't influence you anymore!" an excited voice turned their attention to the other side of the hill, where four emotions and a green boy were climbing up. "Awesome!"

"What's _he_ doing here?" Anger asked, pointing at Beast Boy accusingly.

"I was going to ask Wisdom why everyone's outfits are changing," Beast Boy replied cheekily.

"You know what I meant," Anger snarled. "What are you doing in Raven's head?"

"I came to apologize," Beast Boy replied. "You of all people, er… emotions, should know that Raven was mad at me."

Not sure what to say, Anger folded her arms angrily and turned to Wisdom.

"Well, you heard him. He wants to know why our clothes are changing, too. Now, tell us what's going on," she demanded.

Wisdom sighed. "Even I am not positive of what is going on, although I do have an idea. Perhaps we should go to Knowledge's realm to get this straightened out. Surely she'll have come up with her own ideas for these occurrences by now."

"Fine. Let's get moving." Anger agreed gruffly.

Wisdom nodded and turned, gesturing for everyone to follow her. "Come, the portal is this way."

They slowly began making their way down the hill, walking sideways in a zigzagging pattern so as not to slip. Beast Boy quickly caught up to Wisdom, and they lead the pack of emotions down the hill together.

No one spoke during the descent, which quickly began to take its toll on the talkative Beast Boy.

"So, Wisdom… can you, like, tell the future and stuff?" Beast Boy asked, looking over at the brown clad emotion at his right.

"I sometimes have premonitions," she replied. "But it has to be really important, and usually, something causes them to occur. You didn't know that?"

"Well, sort of, but not really." he replied, shrugging. "Me and Raven don't really talk that often."

Wisdom shot him a disbelieving look, before replying, "You talk to her almost every day."

"Well, yeah," Beast Boy replied, trying to figure out what he was trying to say with his fumbling tongue. "But we never really talk talk, you know? Just, talk without any real subject. And when we do talk, it usually turns into a fight. Like it did today."

"You did spill tea on her book," Wisdom pointed out calmly.

"Well, yeah, but it was just an accident! I was trying to be nice, and she just exploded at me!" Beast Boy argued, a slightly angry tone working its way into his voice. "Most of the time, I'm not even trying to annoy Raven. She just gets mad at me when I'm doing my best to make her happy! You'd think I was following her around and taping 'kick me' signs to her back. And don't give me that look; I only did it once!"

"Beast Boy," Wisdom sighed, "you have to believe me; Raven doesn't enjoy arguing any more than you do. She has a short temper sometimes, everyone has character faults, but it's not like she doesn't try to control herself. She did restrain herself enough to stop your argument before it grew to an even worse degree."

"I- guess you're right," Beast Boy admitted reluctantly, before smiling gratefully. "Thanks. I think I'll try to remember that next time I annoy her."

"Good," Wisdom nodded. "Now, I was wondering if you could answer a question of my own."

"Sure," Beast Boy replied. "Shoot."

"I've been wondering for a while now: Why did you start becoming so persistent about getting Raven to open up? No matter how badly Raven has treated you in the past, you continued trying to spend time with her. What drove you to do this? Why did you start in the first place?" Wisdom asked.

Beast Boy stared at her for a moment, thinking over his answer, before answering her question.

"Lots of reasons, I guess. For one thing, I hate how she has to suppress her emotions all the time. She acts like she doesn't care about anything, or anyone, but I know that deep down, she really is a nice person and her heart's nothin' but good," he said sincerely. His face darkened, and he added somberly, "Besides, no one should have to go through the things she's had to deal with all her life. I know what it's like to be all alone, without friends and family, like she was. I just don't think that a person as good and selfless as Raven should have to suffer stuff like that at any point, you know?"

Wisdom smiled, and found she was speechless for once in her life.

"Do you really mean all that?" she asked. She was tempted to ask what he had meant about being alone, but she knew that it was something that was best left untouched until he was ready to share.

"Yeah," he replied, smiling. "I meant every word of it."

"You're right," Wisdom said after a minute of silence, while they struggled down a particularly rocky part of the hill. "Raven has gone through a lot of strife, but you needn't worry. Now, she has you and the rest of the Titans, and she's never been happier."

Beast Boy looked at her incredulously. "You can't be serious. Maybe around the others, she's happier than ever, but not around me… She only seems to hate me, most of the time," he mumbled the last part, but Wisdom's keen ears heard what he said. He perked up suddenly, and added, "Still, if my suffering makes her happy, I don't mind. She deserves all the happiness she can get."

"Beast Boy, you shouldn't think that," Wisdom told him in a calm, yet slightly upset voice. "Raven does not- and never will- hate you! Relationships vary between different people. Just because she fights with you more than the other Titans doesn't mean she likes you any less."

"How do you figure that?" Beast Boy asked. "I don't see how she can like me and still get so angry."

Wisdom thought carefully over her words before explaining. "You are one of the very few people that has helped bring down the emotional wall she built so many years ago, while still keeping control of her powers. As grateful for that as she is, it makes you a bigger target for her anger, as well as her other emotions. Do you understand?"

"I…. think so… Thanks," Beast Boy grinned at Wisdom, who smiled lightly in response.

"I am delighted I could be of assistance," she replied. Her smile disappeared suddenly, however, as the now familiar feeling of shifting clothing returned.

"Our outfits changed again, in case you were too busy flirting to notice." Anger broke in, glaring daggers at Beast Boy and Wisdom. Wisdom cocked her eyebrow as she heard what sounded like jealousy in Anger's edgy voice. No one else seemed to have noticed, however, so she pushed that small piece of information to the back of her mind for later.

Anger's red muscle shirt had lost more length in the last change, and now sat just under where Wisdom knew her bellybutton was. The leather jacket she wore on top was shorter in the arms, and the bottom hem only rested about a centimeter below the shirt. Her leather pants probably couldn't get any tighter than they were already, but the legs had been growing shorter with every change, and now showed off a couple inches of her ankles.

Wisdom looked down at her own outfit next. As she had suspected, her skirt was now up to the bottom of her knees. The sleeves of her robe were now in between her wrists and elbows. The sleeves of her tunic shirt were above her elbows- this fact was hidden by the robe-, and was slightly tighter. She could feel the neckline of her plain brown shirt beginning to plunge slightly, but her robe hid it as well.

Once she had finished examining her own and Anger's outfits, she looked up the hill at the other trailing emotions.

Rude's pants hadn't grown much tighter, but the rips in it were steadily growing, and now showed large patches of her thighs and calves. Her T-shirt-turned-muscle shirt now showed as much of her midriff as Anger's. The material of her shirt also seemed a bit thinner, although not drastically so.

Happy's pink plaid skirt had been growing shorter with every change, and this time was no different; it now rested at least two and a half inches above her knees. Her usual pink boots had shrunk, just a bit, reaching a spot just above her ankles. Her shirt was now fairly tight, and it wouldn't be long before the buttons began to feel some strain. Her sleeves, which had started near her elbows when she had first gotten her new outfit, were now short enough to be very small T-shirt sleeves. The pink necktie at her collar was another inch shorter, and remained as loose on her neck as before.

Timid's sweater had been shrinking steadily since the first change, and was now tight enough to be a well fitting sweater. The sweater underneath the hood-less hoodie was, presumably, tighter as well. The sleeves of her shirt no longer reached her wrists, and instead stopped a couple inches away from them. Her pants had grown fairly tight, and were beginning to look less like denim and more like some unidentifiable, stretchy fabric.

The pale green T-shirt under Brave's gi seemed thinner, and even a bit tighter. The dark green shirt above it only reached her elbows, and the neckline dipped down to the middle of her chest (luckily she had the T-shirt underneath it). Her pants had raised again, and only went down to the top of her knees now.

"I guess we should get going before Anger gets a leather wedgie," Rude said, jerking a thumb at Anger, who was furiously pulling at her tight pants. She looked up at Rude and gestured at her in a not-so-polite way.

"Come on," Beast Boy laughed. "We're almost at the bottom."

They continued their slow trek down the hill. Anger trailed at the back, muttering darkly. Noticing that Anger seemed irritated, Beast Boy slowed his pace until he was standing next to her at the back of the group.

"Are you okay?" Beast Boy asked. "You seem a bit angry."

The leather clad emotion glared at him, and he realized what he had just said.

"Oh," he laughed nervously. "I guess that's kind of obvious. But seriously, why are you angry?"

"Lots of reasons," Anger growled, looking away.

"Like?" Beast Boy prodded.

"Like this stupid outfit," she replied, glaring at the clothing in question.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked. "I think the biker chick look suits you."

"I still hate it," she replied angrily.

"Well, if everything goes well, you won't have to wear it for too much longer," Beast Boy pointed out optimistically.

"And if everything goes wrong?" she asked cynically.

"Then… at least you look good in it," Beast Boy replied.

"…Shut up." Anger snapped after a second, turning her head away. She could feel that her face had turned a bit red, and it wasn't because of her trademark emotion.

"But it's true," Beast Boy said. "You even look kinda… pretty."

"Pretty?" Anger repeated edgily, convinced he was lying with that last word. "I don't look _pretty_."

"Sure you do," Beast Boy insisted, before mumbling, "You always do."

Anger ignored his last comment and continued to walk in a moody silence. Beast Boy, however, continued to talk.

"I heard that red is really in this season," he told her. "I'm not totally sure about that though. I don't pay much attention to fashion-y type things. Do you? Probably not, eh? I guess we're kind of lucky that way. Super heroes, I mean. We get to wear our uniforms all the time, so normal clothes aren't really a big deal. Not that they're a small deal, they just aren't as important as other things, like saving the world."

"Do you ever shut up?" Anger spun around to face him, cutting off his chain of consistent babbling. They were almost nose-to-nose, but Anger was too frustrated to really care. Beast Boy smirked.

"I knew I could get you to talk to me again," he told her.

"And why would you care if I talked to you or not?" Anger asked him, sneering.

"Because I like you," he told her truthfully.

"No, you don't," she replied with angry conviction. Before he could say anything else, she turned around and continued to walk down the hill a bit ahead of Beast Boy.

"I do," Beast Boy replied casually. "And you like me."

He had gone too far! She stopped and began to turn around to face him, but in her frustration, she didn't notice the rock resting by her foot.

With a small yelp, Anger felt herself falling forward as she tripped over the inconveniently placed rock. She closed her eyes and braced herself for a rocky landing. Without warning, a soft… something stopped her descent, and she had a sneaking suspicion she knew what, or who, that something was.

Cautiously, she looked up at the person who had caught her. Despite her correct guess, she was still surprised for a second when she saw a green face looking down at her. Their eyes locked.

'He's holding me,' Anger thought, gazing into his eyes. 'I should get mad at him; I should hate this. So, why does it feel so… good? And his eyes,' she noted, 'are like portals into his soul. Oh, dear Azar! Did I really just think that!

'I have got to push him away before my mind turns to pathetic jelly. I will push him away... in just a second…. Or five…. This is stupid. These feelings, whatever they may be, are a sign of weakness. I'm not weak; therefore, I should push him away. But... it couldn't hurt to stay like this for just a little longer... No! I am Anger. I am above these pathetic feelings. I am... not angry. No, I can't not be angry. It goes against my nature. And yet... I'm not.

'Still, it really doesn't feel so bad, letting him hold onto me. I'm still Anger, and I am not weak, like the rest of Raven. Staying like this for a while won't change that….'

Beast Boy stared back at Anger, similar thoughts running through his head. He wondered why she hadn't pushed him away yet, or yelled at him for holding onto her, but at the same time, he didn't want to question it. He really didn't mind holding onto her, whether she needed help standing or not.

"Who knew that Anger could be so light on her feet?" a mocking voice spoke up from behind them. "So light that lover boy over here had to catch her!"

Beast Boy turned his head around to see the other emotions looking at them. Rude had a small smirk on her face, pinpointing her as the person who had spoken.

"Gonna hold onto each other for long? Or are we going to have to walk around you to get to Knowledge's realm?"

"You two look so cute!" Happy added, clapping her hands excitedly, to Anger's growing embarrassment.

"We do not look cute!" she spat. "And this was just a clumsy mistake. It means nothing!"

"Are you sure about that?" Wisdom asked, chuckling. "That seems to be the first time you've ever smiled at someone, and for helping you out at that!"

"Yeah, and I can't tell which is redder: your outfit or your face!" Rude said, before breaking down into a fit of laughter with Brave.

"She got you there, Red," Brave said in between laughs. "Or should I say, Red Face?"

Rude, Happy, and Brave laughed harder, and Wisdom hid her chuckles behind her hand.

By now, there may as well have been steam pouring out of Anger's ears, and she almost snapped at Beast Boy when he carefully interrupted her angry thoughts with, "Umm… Anger?"

"What is it, BB?" she growled, snapping her head towards him.

"Er… look down," Beast Boy mumbled, pointing at her. She looked down, and an angry growl escaped her lips.

Her anger and the other emotions' amusement had prevented them from noticing that their clothing had changed once again.

Anger's shirt was low enough to see just a hint of cleavage, and her stomach still showed from under the bottom hem. She could feel that the arms of her muscle shirt were now much thinner as well. Her dark red leather jacket didn't help hide much, and the sleeves had grown shorter as well, reaching just below her elbows. Her matching leather pants stopped around mid-calf, turning them into matching leather pedal pushers.

Looking up, she angrily examined the other emotions.

Her eyes widened slightly as she took in Rude, or more specifically, Rude's pants. Her already hole filled jeans had ripped into denim shorts. Small shreds from the remainders of her pant legs trailed down to her ankles, although Rude didn't seem to care enough to rip them off, completely transforming them into shorts.

The material of Rude's T-shirt had become a bit thinner, and to the trained eye, it could be seen that Rude probably wasn't wearing a bra.

Anger scowled at Rude's new outfit, and turned to look at Brave, who had a disgusted look on her face as she looked at her own outfit.

"What is this?" Brave asked, motioning at her clothing. "These are hardly fighting clothes!"

Her pants had grown tighter once again, and rested an inch above her knees. Her T-shirt thinner as well, and while the neckline of her gi still stayed open until mid-chest, it was definitely tighter as well. The sleeves of the gi over her T-shirt had shrunk again and landed in between her shoulders and elbows. The dark green shirt had become much tighter around her waist and arms, and the neckline had started to dip down slightly as well.

Next to Brave, Happy was observing her outfit. Her pink skirt was almost at mid-thigh, Anger noted with distaste. It was getting much too short, in her opinion. Happy's blouse was visibly tighter, and her stomach now peeked out of the bottom as much as Rude's and Anger's had before this change. The sleeves were now almost non-existent. The boots she had been wearing in the beginning only raised up a bit past her ankles.

"Does my butt look big in this?" she asked in a mock serious tone, before laughing.

Timid looked over nervously at Happy's joke, but quickly turned her attention back to her own clothing. Her hoodie was much tighter than it had been before, and the sleeves were just below her elbows. Her pants, which had started out as denim, were now unmistakably made of stretchy material, like a spandex-cotton blend. The change in fabric was strange, to say the least.

Finally, Anger looked over at Wisdom. Despite the newest changes, Wisdom remained infuriatingly calm.

Wisdom's brown robe was shorter at the bottom, reaching above her ankles, and the material was thinner as well. The sleeves of her robe were now at her elbows. Her shirt, although hidden by her robe, had gotten lower at the neckline, and the sleeves reached part way between her elbows and shoulders. Also hidden by her robe, was her skirt, which reached the tops of her knees.

"If this happens one more time, I'm going to-"

"Calm down, Anger," Wisdom said soothingly. "We're almost at the portal. Once we're there, we'll find Knowledge and get some solid answers."

"You're sure she can tell us what's going on?" Rude asked. "Personally, I'm getting kind of tired with this wild goose chase."

"She is Knowledge. She will know, or at least have a good idea, of what's going on."

"Fine, let's go. The sooner we get to Knowledge's realm, the sooner we get rid of these damned clothes." Anger hissed through her teeth, stomping forward. "MOVE IT!"

With a small jump (and a rather big jump on Timid's part), the other emotions and Beast Boy followed her down the hill.

-

"If I were a short, green boy, where would I be?" Raven asked herself, walking down the halls of the tower. She had already looked in his bedroom and checked with Robin and Cyborg to see if they had seen Beast Boy, but so far, no luck.

"This is pointless," Raven groaned, leaning against a wall. "For all I know, he's wasting all his money at an arcade while I tear up the tower searching for him."

Sighing, Raven began to walk again, rethinking her last words. He may be a flake at times, but the last time he had been seen, he had been heading into the tower, so he had to be somewhere in here. And he had to be up to something if he hadn't been seen for this long.

She searched for a couple more minutes- she even stopped in the training room, although she knew Beast Boy would never train for fun. As she walked though, she began to get a funny feeling, and she knew she was going to have another wave of emotions soon. She stopped, and sure enough, a second later, it came full force.

A medley of emotions closed in on her, and she took a moment to examine them as best as she could. She felt… flattered. To the point of speechlessness even. The feeling of flattery lasted for a few minutes before changing into another feeling, although not disappearing completely. She felt mild curiosity at something, although she wasn't sure at what, as well as conviction a minute or two later. Most of all she felt a strange emotion that she couldn't completely identify through the whole surge of emotions. It was some form of… affection?

It took a while for the feelings to disappear completely, but once they had, Raven couldn't stop the groan of frustration that came out of her mouth. This was just not her day! First, she had fought with Beast Boy. Now, she had to look for him, _and_ she kept getting these weird rushes of feelings, like her emotions were going crazy over something.

Suddenly, it was like a light bulb had gone off in her head and connections began to form. Beast Boy had gone missing, and he hadn't been seen for a couple hours. Meanwhile, she had been getting strange, unexplainable feelings.

"No way. After what happened the first time, he would know how dangerous it is," Raven tried to convince herself. "He just wouldn't do that. He wouldn't…"

Suddenly, she was surprised by another rush of emotions. She felt herself slip into a strangely wonderful daze, which took her over completely for a few minutes. The invisible arms had returned as well, wrapping themselves around her body like a blanket. She allowed herself to bask in the feeling, until suddenly, it was gone and replaced by an overpowering combination of anger, frustration, and embarrassment. She groaned.

"He would."

Her fists balled up in frustration, and she turned on her heels, running through the halls to her bedroom.

"That little-! I can't believe he would do something like this!" Raven vented as she ran. "Who knows what could happen to him in there? He could be hurt, or lost! Besides that, what the hell has he been doing in there for this long that's been causing these emotional outbursts? When I get to him, I'm going to- Argh!"

The rest of the trip to her room was spent muttering threats under her breath.

* * *

I don't really have anything to say for this chapter, except that I hope you liked it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you all rock!

Tammy Tamborine


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Raven's door was already opened as she stormed into her room. She immediately noticed her ornate meditation mirror sitting on the floor and walked over to it.

"I can't believe I forgot to close my door," Raven grumbled, striding across her room and closing her door behind her. "I'm never going to forget to close the door again."

Walking over to her mirror, she picked it up and looked into its dark surface. Beast Boy was somewhere in her mind, again.

"I sincerely hope there's no permanent damage after this," she said, lifting up her mirror to eye level. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

With a small flash, Raven was pulled into her mind.

-

Affection walked through the dark jungle of trees and bushes of Brave's realm. While ordinarily the sounds of the wild animals and other unknown things that roamed Brave's realm would have made her hesitant, and a bit afraid, there were too many things on her mind for her to care much at the moment.

So, she plowed on through the foliage, unheeding of the intimidating noises. Suddenly however, she stopped. A low whining reached her ears. It was faint, but easily noticeable by how out of place it seemed in Brave's forest.

Looking around, Affection saw a small rustling in the bushes to her left. She knew that one should always be cautious in Raven's mind, and even more so in Brave's territory, but she quietly crept over to the bushes anyway.

Pulling back a few branches, Affection's eyes widened. A chimera sat in the bushes, licking its wounds morosely. The expression on its strange face almost reminded Affection of a pouting child. It looked up at her; prepared to defend itself as best it could with its awkwardly twisted limbs, but quickly changed its mind when it saw her familiar face.

With a yelp, the monster stood up and scrambled away from the curious girl. Whimpering, the injured Ape Scorpian limped away as fast it could, leaving Affection to just stare after it and wonder what had happened to it.

Walking back over to the path, Affection continued her trek through Brave's realm, hoping to find Beast Boy and the other emotions.

"That chimera must have been Brave's handiwork," Affection said aloud as she walked. "Although I don't think I remember her ever being quite _that_ mad."

Fighting back her curiosity, Affection continued on quicker. She should try to find them before they could mentally scar any more innocent monsters.

-

"We're off to see the Knowledge! The wonderful Knowledge of Rae!"

Anger groaned and glared at Happy's back as the pink emotion sang, happily oblivious of the others' annoyance.

"Please don't tell me she's been singing this the entire time…" Anger asked Beast Boy.

"Nope," the changeling grinned. "She was singing about Wisdom earlier."

Anger groaned and slapped her head, while Wisdom noticeably grimaced.

"Just wait until we actually reach Knowledge's realm," Rude commented. "She just had yellow tiles put down on the floors."

"We've reached the arch," Brave announced, turning their attention to the stone portal in front of them.

"About time," Rude grumbled. "Took long enough."

"Well, it wouldn't have taken as long if we didn't have to zigzag down the hill to stop from tripping," Brave pointed out. "Or would you rather have ran straight down and met us at the bottom with a face full of gravel?"

"Bite me," Rude snapped, unable to think of a better retort, and walked through the portal. Rolling her eyes, Brave followed her.

Happy skipped in after them, still humming under her breath. Timid followed her hesitantly, looking back briefly before stepping through the stone arch. As Timid disappeared from view, Wisdom stepped forward and went through, leaving Beast Boy and Anger.

"Ladies first," Beast Boy offered, smiling and stepping to the side. Scowling, Anger silently brushed past him. Beast Boy walked in after her.

On the other side, Beast Boy's eyes widened. He had never seen so many books in his entire life!

They seemed to be standing in a giant library. Giant bookshelves were lined up in rows on all sides, towering high enough that tall ladders were needed to grab books on the higher shelves, and they seemed to disappear into shadows as they reached high into the rafters of the unseen ceiling.

The air smelled like old books and dust, although it was easily one of the cleanest places Beast Boy had ever been in. The giant library was dimly lit; enough to read by, although he couldn't see any lights nearby.

Quietly, they walked down the rows of shelves. Their feet made small scuffling noises in the silent library as they walked, and Beast Boy became strangely worried that an old librarian would jump out and yell at them for being too loud. They didn't see anyone, however, as they walked passed the many bookcases.

Suddenly, the sound of someone slamming a book closed reached their ears, breaking the stillness of the realm. The slam was followed by the sound of paper being flipped frantically and a low murmuring.

As they reached the end of the bookshelves they were currently walking between, a small table came into view between the shelves. The wooden table was covered in various tomes and scrolls. A lamp sat on the desk, barely visible through the quickly stacking books.

There was the sound of another closing book and more muttering, and a book wielding hand appeared over the stacks of the books, setting one book down on a pile, and picking up another. Knowledge.

Silently, Beast Boy walked around the table and the wall of books so he was standing right behind her. Her eyes remained on her book, running across the pages rapidly as she took in the information.

"What are you reading?" Beast Boy asked, looking over her shoulder. Suddenly noticing that she wasn't alone anymore, Knowledge jumped and spun around in her seat to come face to face with an innocently smiling Beast Boy.

Gasping, she pulled away and looked around at the other emotions and Beast Boy. Rude and Brave were grinning mischievously, ready to unleash a barrage of jokes, and Happy was already giggling. Wisdom and Timid watched on placidly, as well as Anger, although her usual scowl remained firmly on her face.

Standing up, Knowledge straightened her glasses and looked around, quickly recovering from her shock. Everyone looked at her, or more specifically, her new outfit.

She wore a smooth yellow businesswoman skirt, which now reached about mid-thigh. Her pale yellow button up shirt was beginning to stretch enough that small flashes of a yellow bra could be seen underneath. A short sleeved jacket, the same shade of yellow as the skirt, was worn on top of the blouse, but could no longer cover up her almost-ready-to-burst blouse.

Her usually thick, plain glasses had changed into cuter, thinner spectacles, which better complimented the shape of her face. Her hairstyle had also changed, being swept up into a professional looking bun. Finally, the last step in her new appearance, were the authoritative yellow pumps she wore on her feet.

Rude smirked as she looked at Knowledge's outfit. "And why weren't _you_ at the staff meeting Ms. Knowledge?" she asked in a mock accusing tone, pointing at Knowledge's straining buttons.

"Librarians gone wild!" Brave added in, snickering. High-fiving, Rude and Brave laughed, ignoring Knowledge when she primly scowled at them and turned her attention onto the others.

Knowledge's eyes lingered on Beast Boy for a moment, as if really noticing him for the first time. Surprise flashed in her eyes, but she did her best to remain composed and not show any outward reaction to his presence.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, doing everything in her power to keep her voice a perfect, unreadable monotone.

"I dunno," Beast Boy admitted. "A couple hours? A few minutes? Don't look at me, I don't have a watch."

Happy shrugged, before cheerfully adding in, "Me and BB have been through my realm, and Timid, Rude, Brave, and Wisdom's realms since the second change."

"Beast Boy and I," Knowledge corrected.

"No, me and Beast Boy," Happy insisted. "You've been here the whole time."

Knowledge resisted the temptation to slap her own forehead, and turned to Beast Boy.

"Were you here for the first change as well?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy replied. "I was with Violet."

"Violet? Who's that?" Happy asked. "I thought you were with Aff-"

Knowledge quickly covered Happy's mouth, cutting off her words. "Happy, think hard. Who do you think 'Violet' is?"

The sounds of the gears in Happy's head turning could almost be heard, as she thought hard. Slowly, she made the connection. "Oh," she said at last.

Rolling her eyes, Knowledge sat back down on the wooden chair next to her library desk. She flipped open a book, pieces of her puzzle beginning to fall into place.

"I take it you're here to discover the cause for the changing of our attire?" Knowledge asked, looking up from her books.

"Huh?" Beast Boy articulated.

"You all came to ask me why the clothing has changed?" Knowledge rephrased.

"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy smiled, rubbing his neck. "I knew that."

Knowledge turned to Wisdom next. "May I speak to you in private?"

Wisdom nodded, and followed the yellow clad emotion around a bookshelf. There was a flash of dark energy as Knowledge put a shield around herself and Wisdom, to prevent eavesdroppers.

"Beast Boy has a right to know," Wisdom pointed out, guessing the subject of their private talk. "He came all this way, and it does effect him as well."

"I know," Knowledge agreed. "I'm not sure that we should tell him which specific emotion is causing all this, though."

"You know which emotion it is then." It was a statement, not a question. They both knew, or had a fairly good idea. Knowledge nodded. "Then, you also know it effects him even more."

"Yes, but I still think that we should keep her identity confidential," Knowledge insisted. "For the time being at least. He may be able to figure it out eventually anyway."

"All right," Wisdom relented.

Letting the barrier around them fall, Knowledge and Wisdom stepped around the bookshelf. The others hadn't seemed to notice them yet. Happy was passing the time by telling jokes to Timid and Brave, and laughing loudly at each one. Anger simply leaned against a bookshelf, an annoyed look on her face. Beast Boy and Rude sat together in one corner, flipping idly through a book.

"I hope you aren't getting the pages grubby," Knowledge said, walking over to Rude and Beast Boy.

Beast Boy, who had been holding the book, jumped and dropped the book in surprise. The thick book fell, landing on Rude's foot with a painful thud. The emotion yelped, and Beast Boy quickly scrambled to pick up the book.

"I'm so sorry!" he apologized, pulling the heavy book off Rude's foot.

"It's okay," Rude grumbled, bending over to rub her foot, just as Beast Boy was standing up. They grunted as their heads collided, and both straightened up, rubbing the sore spots on their heads.

"I'm really sorry," Beast Boy apologized again, wincing at the bright red spot forming on Rude's forehead from their collision. "Want me to kiss it better?" he joked weakly.

A small blush crossed Rude's cheeks, but she smirked confidently.

"Sure, why not?" she shrugged. She pointed at the red spot. "Go on, right there."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "I-I… but… are you…" He blushed, unsure of what to say and do. He blushed and stuttered for another few minutes, before noticing the mischievous grin on Rude's face. He smirked, realizing she was daring him. She didn't really think he would do it.

Taking a step forward he placed a small kiss on her forehead. Knowledge groaned as not a second later, their clothing changed.

The strips of denim material left over from Rude's pants were now much thinner, close to being nothing more than string, but not quite. Her T-shirt exposed much of her midriff, almost reaching her belly button. The sleeves were more like thick straps between her shoulders and neck. While dark orange stains still covered her increasingly small shirt, they didn't hide the fact that the material was getting thinner, and she was quite obviously going bra-less.

Knowledge's blouse became tighter, causing more strain on the buttons and more of her bra to show. Her dark yellow jacket over her blouse was now made of an especially thin material, and the sleeves only reached the bottom of her shoulders. Her skirt raised an extra inch up her leg.

The neckline of Anger's red muscle shirt had dipped lower, showing a bit more cleavage than it had before, although not too much. Like Rude's, Anger's shirt ended just below her belly button, leaving a couple inches between her shirt and her increasingly tight leather pants. Her pants, if they could still be called that, reached the bottoms of her kneecaps.

Happy's blouse was noticeably tighter, and the buttons were now straining as much as they had been for Knowledge, giving everyone a small glimpse of her bright pink bra. The sleeves of her blouse ended at her shoulders. Her pink plaid skirt now reached just a bit higher than mid-thigh.

Brave sat next to Happy, examining her own clothing. Her green pants were now long shorts, as the legs reached at least four full inches above her knees. Her light green T-shirt was getting thinner. The sleeves of the dark green gi above it only reached the bottoms of her shoulders, and the neckline was still in a slow descent down her chest.

Wisdom's brown robe had risen up to the middle of her calves, and her sleeves no longer reached her elbows. The material of her plain robe seemed to be getting thinner, and a slight sheen could be seen in certain folds as they hit the light of the table lamp. Underneath her robe, her plain skirt sat a couple inches above her knees. Her brown shirt was also showing the slightest hint of cleavage, although the robe on top hid that fact.

Timid's head snapped back and forth between the other emotions. She dreaded looking down to see what had happened to her own outfit. Unfortunately, she had no choice. Taking a deep breath, she looked down.

Her sweater was now quite tight, and the sleeves didn't even reach her elbows. The neckline was just below her collarbone, and the shirt she wore underneath was peeking out, looking suspiciously like gray lace. Her pants were now, without a doubt, made of skintight spandex.

"THAT'S IT!" Anger suddenly roared, making everyone jump and turn their attention on her. "We've been waiting long enough! I want to know why this is happening!"

Knowledge sighed. "I will explain, but before I do, I must confirm something." she promised, before turning to Beast Boy. "Beast Boy, you have met our purple cloaked companion, but only know her as 'Violet', correct?"

"Uh… yeah," Beast Boy replied after translating her words in his mind. "I met the purple emotion and asked her who she was, and she just told me to call her Violet."

"I see," Knowledge nodded. "Then, I shall explain recent occurrences now, if there are no objections."

There were no protests, so she continued.

"I'm sure you all remember the time Raven watched _Wicked Scary_?"

"Are you kidding? How could we forget that?" Rude scoffed. "Timid's powers went so crazy that even Brave and Anger were scared."

"What! I wasn't scared!" Brave denied indignantly. Anger simply 'hmphed' and folded her arms, knowing it was pointless to deny the fact.

"You were so," Rude insisted. "It was like a hundred times worse in Nevermore than it was in the tower," Rude explained to Beast Boy. "And she was just as scared as the rest of us."

"I wasn't afraid," Brave repeated, although she visibly shivered as she remembered the events that had passed that night. Beast Boy shivered as well, while the emotions looked at him questioningly.

"I would hate to see what scares Brave," Beast Boy explained at their questioning looks. He pointed at Brave and added offhandedly, "Raven's the bravest person I know, and she's all of her bravery. I'd hate to see what scares _her_ of all people."

A faint blush crossed Brave's cheeks, and she smiled confidently. Rude, Happy, Knowledge, and Wisdom all smiled bashfully as well, identical blushes on their faces. One corner of Anger's mouth twitched up in what could be considered a smile, although she would never admit to being flattered or embarrassed by anything Beast Boy said. Timid looked down at her feet and shuffled nervously.

"It's really nice of you to say tha-" Brave began to say, before a groan from Anger cut her off. They looked at her and she growled, "Not again."

Anger was looking at her outfit, which had once again changed.

Her leather pants- or rather, shorts, reached an inch above her kneecaps. Her red shirt had raised enough to see her belly button, and the neckline had dipped a bit lower. Her red leather jacket had shrunk as well, barely reaching a centimeter below her crimson muscle shirt.

Looking up from her outfit, Anger inspected the others.

Happy's skirt was now quite high, barely covering a quarter of her thigh. There was a large gap in the front of her shirt, where her buttons were barely staying intact enough to stay closed, and her bright pink bra was even more noticeable than before. Her necktie no longer wrapped around her collar. It had slid off and was now more like a short, thin scarf around her neck. Her boots had shrunk as well, and now looked more like Raven's own boots, although they were still a shade of pale- almost white- pink.

Anger looked at Knowledge next. The yellow clad emotion's skirt was almost as short as Happy's, although she had an extra inch of material. Her shirt, however, was straining even more than Happy's, and with the quiet snapping sound of thread, her top button snapped off, hitting Wisdom in the forehead.

As she lightly rubbed her forehead, the others looked over Wisdom's outfit. The bottom of her robes only reached the bottom of her knee, and the skirt underneath was a good couple inches above the tops of her knees. Her brown shirt was beginning to show a bit of her midriff, but only Wisdom knew that, as her robes covered her stomach. The material of her brown robes was definitely changing into something smoother and thinner than the coarse wool it had started out as.

Next, everyone looked at Brave and Rude, who were both trying not to laugh at Wisdom as she pulled her hand away to reveal a temporary bright red spot.

Brave's dark green shorts stopped mid-thigh, and were even tighter than they had been before. The sleeves of her gi only went to the tops of her shoulders, and despite the rope keeping it closed, the dark green shirt continued to show more of her T-shirt covered chest. The light green shirt was now thin and tight enough to see that, like Rude, she was not wearing a bra. The neckline of the T-shirt had started inching its way down, and was now an inch below her collar bone.

The thin strips of material hanging from Rude's shorts were now nothing but thin white strings, with a slightly orange-ish tone. Her muscle shirt had risen up just past her belly button, and the sleeves were only about three inches wide.

Finally, everyone looked at Timid. The material of her sweater had turned into a cotton-spandex blend, much like her pants have before they had completely turned into spandex. The sleeves reached halfway between her elbows and her shoulders. The shirt underneath her sweater was undoubtedly dark gray lace, and reached up to her collarbone, while the neck of the sweater rested about an inch and a half below it.

After a slight pause, Knowledge cleared her throat. "As I was saying, you all remember the time Raven watched _Wicked Scary_. I'm sure you also remember that Timid's powers went haywire because-"

"Oh! I know! I know!" Happy squealed, waving her hand in the air.

"Yes, Happy?" Knowledge sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Her powers went all crazy because Raven kept refusing to admit she was afraid," Happy said, smiling brightly.

"Correct," Knowledge replied. "Now, Wisdom and I have reason to believe that it's happening again, except-"

"What? No way," Rude protested. "The last time there were creepy things popping out of every corner. Apart from the chimera, there hasn't been anything really scary."

"I'm aware of that. I was about to say-"

"Damn it, Rude! Quit interrupting her, and maybe she could finish," Anger snarled, right as Knowledge spoke.

"Maybe you should take your own advice!" Rude snapped back.

"Shut up!" Anger yelled, fists balling.

"Make me!" Rude retorted. She immediately regretted her words as Anger lunged toward her, screeching angrily.

Anger knocked her to the ground, clawing madly at Rude's clothes and face. Hissing in pain, Rude slapped at Anger's hands and head. One of her flailing hands caught Anger across the face, causing the red emotion to howl and grab at Rude's hair. Yelping, Rude followed Anger's lead and wrapping her own fingers around a clump of her adversary's hair.

Several exclamations rose from the others as they watched the two emotions claw at each other on the floor. Beast Boy watched them both nervously, frantically asking them to stop, although neither seemed to register anyone else but the girl they were fighting.

"Please, you two! Stop fighting!" Beast Boy pleaded.

"C'mon Rude! Go for her left! The left!" Brave cheered, mimicking a punching motion with her arm.

"That's not helping, Brave," Knowledge scolded. "Anger! Rude! Stop this instant!"

"This is so bad!" Happy giggled nervously. "Quit it you two! Seriously!"

Timid cowered behind Knowledge, watching the fight with wide eyes.

"Come on, Beast Boy," Wisdom sighed. "I believe this calls for an intervention."

Beast Boy immediately nodded in agreement, and they quickly walked over to the brawling emotions. Beast Boy reached them first and worked on prying Anger off of Rude, who was pinned underneath and still had a handful of Anger's hair. Wisdom grasped Rude's arms, and Knowledge quickly came over and worked on making the two girls release their firm grips on each other's hair.

Finally, they were able to pull the girls apart, Beast Boy holding a struggling Anger around the waist, and Wisdom holding back Rude. Knowledge had to step back quickly to avoid their arms and legs, which were flying in every direction as they tried to break free and return to their fight.

Rude's struggling soon abated, allowing Wisdom to let go without fear. Anger however, only struggled harder when she saw that her target had been released. Beast Boy's grip around her waist tightened, and he was forced to wrap an arm from her left side to her right shoulder to prevent her from breaking free.

"Shh," Beast Boy cooed in her ear. "Calm down. It's all right…"

Slowly, her squirming began to die down, and she was left standing with Beast Boy's arms wrapped around her from the back. She flushed lightly at how tightly he was holding her, but luckily, her face was still slightly red from fighting.

Anger clenched her teeth, trying to force down her blush.

"You can let go of me now," Anger hissed, forcing her voice to sound angry.

"Oh, right!" Beast Boy exclaimed, blushing a vibrant shade of red against his green skin.

Just then, the familiar sensation of clothing shifting and shrinking washed over each of the emotions, causing a loud groan to resound through the library.

Anger looked down just in time to see her clothing change. Her leather shorts reached just below mid-thigh. Her red shirt raised another inch above her belly button, and she could feel that the straps across her shoulders were barely a centimeter wide. The red jacket on top rested just above the bottom of her shirt and couldn't even reach far enough around her to zip up. The sleeves for her jacket fell just short of her elbows.

Across from Anger, Rude looked over her own clothes. The strings had fallen off, leaving her with stained denim shorts that reached halfway up her thighs. The straps on her shirt were now about an inch wide, and the neckline was steadily dropping.

Wisdom stood next to Rude, inspecting her own clothing. The plain brown skirt she wore under her robe had raised an extra two inches up her leg, and her shirt exposed all of her stomach from her belly button down. Luckily, she had her brown robe to cover her increasingly scanty clothing. Her robe now reached about a centimeter above her knee, and the material had finished its transformation from wool to what could now be labeled satin.

Knowledge didn't feel the need to examine anyone else's clothing, as she was completely transfixed in her own garments. The yellow short sleeved jacket that she had been wearing over her constantly struggling blouse had changed. While the sleeves were still around the same length, the material had been turning thinner, and was now quite sheer. Her matching yellow skirt barely reached low enough to cover her posterior (although if she moved she was sure everyone would get a small flash of her panties), and she still had about an inch more fabric than Happy, which meant…

"Woo! Check out Happy's gluteus minimus," Rude smirked, whistling.

Laughing, and only blushing a little, Happy craned her head over her shoulder. Sure enough, a small flash of lacy pink underwear could be seen under her skirt, even while she stood still. Her blouse was missing its top button, causing the neckline to become lower, while the remaining buttons still did their best to remain attached despite the strain.

Timid took one look at the bright pink panties and turned almost the same color. Turning away from the sight, she looked over her own outfit. It was a spandex and lace nightmare- at least in Timid's opinion. While she had been slightly self-conscious in their old black leotard, it had never been _this_ tight! The neckline of the spandex shirt on top had plunged significantly, and was already almost as low as Happy's revealing shirt. Luckily, she still had the dark lace camisole underneath, which reached up to about an inch and a half below her collarbone. Her pants had become even more skintight, and probably couldn't get much tighter without drastically constricting her movement and cutting off the circulation in the lower half of her body.

And finally, there was Brave. Her dark green gi was now sleeveless, making it a vest on top of the lighter green shirt underneath. The shirt underneath, which had previously been a short sleeved T-shirt, had lost its sleeves and now only had two thick straps holding the shirt up. The neckline had dropped, and it wouldn't be long before it showed a bit of cleavage. Her shirt continued to grow thinner and thinner. Her shorts had become even higher than before, and Brave surmised that it wouldn't be long before the others would be able to see the bottom of her own derriere.

Everyone was silent for moment, inspecting each other's outfits. Knowledge was the first one to break the silence.

"If there are no other interruptions, I would like to continue giving my explanation," she said, looking at the group sternly. Needless to say, no one objected.

"Very good," Knowledge smiled faintly. "Now, I believe that Raven has been denying another emotion again, except this time, it is not Timid."

"Who is it then?" Happy asked, whispering as she remembered Knowledge's request for no interruptions.

"I have reason to believe that the emotion being denied is…"

-

Affection leaned down on her knees, trying to regain her breath. She had gone down most of Wisdom's hill and was nearing the next portal. Hopefully, the next would lead to Knowledge's realm. With any luck, Beast Boy and Raven's other emotions were already there as well.

Taking one final gulp of air, Affection straightened. She could see the portal at the bottom. Taking a step forward, she carefully continued her trek. She winced slightly as rocks dug into her feet. Her regular boots had turned into elegant heels many changes ago, and she had taken them off to climb the hill. Better to step on a couple rocks than to break an ankle while she was alone.

Truthfully, her entire outfit was wrong for hiking. The hem of her formerly long purple dress had risen enough that it covered less than a quarter of her thighs. The top of the dress had turned into a halter top, exposing her shoulder blades in the back. The dress's shiny material had dulled slightly from all the dirt she had acquired from climbing the hill in Wisdom's realm, traveling through the forest in Brave's, and simply walking through Rude's.

Despite her unsuited attire, Affection was making good time, and when she looked up again, she had traveled at least half the distance between the portal and the last place she had stopped.

Smiling, she descended the last of the hill and stepped through the portal.

Stepping into the next realm, her smile grew as she looked around to see Knowledge's library. After placing her shoes back on her feet, she began to walk forward. As she listened to her heels click against the tiled floors, another sound reached her ears. Stopping, she smiled as she recognized the sound as people talking.

'I have a strong suspicion that the others are already here,' she thought. 'Now, just to find which of these bookshelf rows leads to them…'

-

'I need to put up directions of some sort in Timid's maze. It's too damn confusing,' Raven thought to herself as she ran through Brave's forest.

Her chest and legs were burning from running so fast for so long, and it would have been much easier to fly, but the spells on Timid's maze, and the closely grown trees in Brave's jungle of a forest made it impossible.

So, since flying was not an option, Raven continued to run, stopping only briefly when a strange monster came running out of the underbrush, quickly running away as soon as it saw her face. It had a strange limp, she noted, before returning to a fast run.

She was quickly nearing the next portal. As she closed the distance between herself and the stone passageway, the only thing that crossed her mind was, 'That boy is in _so_ much trouble when I find him.'

-

"…Violet."

Knowledge's statement was followed by a stunned silence.

"Violet?" Brave repeated incredulously.

"I suppose it makes sense," Happy said slowly, slightly more placid than usual as she thought it over.

"Like hell it does," Anger snapped. "Why would she be denied? Raven never uses her!"

"Well, that would be the point, Einstein," Rude replied, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, do you two need to be separated?" Beast Boy asked warningly. Happy giggled, while the two emotions in question simply rolled their eyes and fell into silence.

"The fact that she's even here proves that Raven feels her," Happy pointed out. "But Raven has yet to acknowledge her presence, let alone that she's even having those feelings that Violet causes."

Silence fell over the group once again as everyone stared at Happy like she had grown an extra head.

"What?"

After an awkward pause, Knowledge nodded.

"Yes, that's exactly right," Knowledge confirmed, giving Happy one final odd look before returning to the matter at hand. "Raven has been denying Violet for a while now, and she's finally lost control over her powers. Most likely because of an outside factor."

Knowledge looked pointedly at Beast Boy, who looked over his shoulder to see if she might be talking about someone else. He had no such luck, unfortunately.

"In all honesty," Knowledge continued. "Raven's been feeling her ever since the team was first formed, but at the time, the feeling she was giving Raven was so small that Violet's powers were practically non-existent."

"Over time, the feeling has grown." Wisdom added. "And judging by the rate that our clothing is concerned, it won't be long until her powers have grown strong enough to force Raven to start accepting it."

"No way!" Beast Boy protested. "I talked to her for a while before this whole thing started, and she didn't seem to have single mean streak in her."

"Well, that's very nice of you to say, Beast Boy," Knowledge replied. "But-"

"I just don't believe that someone as nice as Violet would do something so mean to Raven." Beast Boy insisted. "She seemed like such a good person that there's no way she possibly would of hurt someone as good hearted as Raven. No way."

A light blush crossed each emotion's features as they let his words sink in.

"No way would someone as kind as her would do something like that to someone with such a good heart. It's just not happenin'." Beast Boy continued to rant, oblivious to the way everyone had grown silent and was listening to each word he said.

In the shadows of the bookshelf behind Beast Boy, Affection stood, unnoticed and listening to everything. She smiled, and felt a dark blush forming on her face.

As they stood there in the awkward silence that followed (Beast Boy having shut up as he realized what he had said without thinking), there was another change.

For once, Anger didn't yell, or growl, or do anything else that might make anyone nearby fear for his or her life. Instead, she just looked down and watched with a clenched jaw as her clothing shifted.

Her leather shorts were just that: shorts. Very _short_ leather shorts that hugged her curves and had barely two inches between the bottoms of the shorts and the bottom of her… well, you get the point. 

The straps of the crimson shirt under her leather jacket were barely the width of her thumb. The bottom of her red shirt had raised another inch up her stomach, while the neckline had lowered once more showing off a decent (or rather, indecent) amount of her cleavage. By now her jacket was barely an inch below her breasts, and the sleeves rested about two inches above her elbows.

Brave glared down at her outfit as her shorts tightened and became short enough that dark green underwear could be seen along the edges of the shorts' legs. The straps on her light green shirt were now barely an inch wide, and the neckline was beginning to show a hint of cleavage. The darker green gi on top had shrunk, and if it weren't for the belt tied tightly around her waist, it wouldn't have stayed closed.

"I look ridiculous," she groaned, looking at her outfit.

"I know what you mean," Rude replied. Brave looked over and smirked.

One of the straps on her tank top had slipped down her shoulder, and she didn't seem inclined to fix it, even though it caused the neckline to fall down even more without the support from the strap. The bottom of her shirt had raised past her bellybutton, reaching just a few inches under her breasts. Her frayed shorts barely cover a quarter of her thighs, and, despite how tight they were, they had slid down a bit, revealing the dark orange elastic band of her underwear.

"Aw, don't be so grumpy," Happy chided playfully. Rude scowled at the cheerful girl.

Her pink skirt was now showing off the entire bottom half of her derriere, giving everyone an even better view of her lacy pink underwear. Her knee socks, which were still quite high, had changed from cotton to white fishnet socks. Two more of the buttons on her shirt had snapped off, causing the shirt to stay open until the middle of her chest.

"You know, it's not polite to stare," Knowledge said, nudging Beast Boy with her elbow. Beast Boy blushed and laughed nervously when he realized he had indeed been staring. Turning, he looked at the other emotions.

Knowledge's skirt was as short as Happy's, and her shirt was as revealing as- if not more than- Happy's. The yellow jacket she wore over her blouse was now undeniably see-through.

Timid stood next to her, trying to blend into the wall. A bit of cleavage could be seen through the lace; not quite as much as most of the other's, but enough for Timid to feel slightly uncomfortable. Awkwardly, she folded her arms over the top of her chest to hide it. Her pants and the spandex remains of her hoodie had melded together, completely turning her outfit into a tight leotard.

"I'm almost tempted to make some sarcastic remark right now, but that's just too easy," Rude snickered, looking over at Timid's skintight outfit. Blushing, Timid looked away.

The bottom of Wisdom's now satin silk robe- which was even thinner than before- reached around mid thigh, about five inches longer than the brown skirt underneath. The v-shaped neckline of her shirt reached almost as low as mid chest, but luckily, the robe stayed closed up to her collarbone. The sleeves of her robe reached her elbows, though barely.

Still hiding behind her bookshelf, Affection looked over her own outfit. The hemline of her dress was high enough that if she moved her panties would be seen in the back, and the back of her halter style dress had lowered a little, which exposed the back of her purple strapless bra. The v-line neck of her dress stopped about mid chest, but was tight enough that only a small amount of the top edges of her bra could be seen.

Looking up from her outfit, Affection peered between the books on the shelf as Knowledge cleared her throat. Everyone else looked at the yellow clad emotion as well.

"As I was about to say, you're right, Beast Boy," she said, looking over at the green boy. "Violet would never do something like this, not on purpose at least. However, Raven has been denying her, and now, Violet's powers are out of control. She still might not even know what she's doing."

"She's right," Affection said suddenly, stepping out from behind her bookshelf. Everyone looked over at her in surprise as they noticed her for the first time since she had gotten there. "I didn't know what I was doing until it was too late. I just… can't stop it anymore. That's why I left when we got to Happy's realm. I realized that it might be my fault, so I went back to my realm to test out my powers and see if they were still in my control. They weren't. I'm sorry… I really didn't mean to do this."

"Uh… so, what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked. "How do we fix this?"

Knowledge carefully thought over her words before answering. "Unfortunately, this isn't going to be easy. If we had realized what was going on right away, or even before this all started, it would have been as simple as convincing Raven to accept what she is feeling. Since it has been so long since Violet lost her powers though, not only will Raven have to admit it to herself that she feels that emotion, that feeling must also be reciprocated."

Several gasps could be heard around the room. Timid stared at Knowledge with wide eyes, shaking, while Wisdom rubbed her back comfortingly. Happy's ever-present smile had disappeared, and her face was white. Rude stood frozen to the spot, gaping as she replayed what Knowledge had said in her head. Anger glared at the ground, her jaw clenched, and even Brave was looking a bit pale.

"No way," Rude said, an edge of panic in her voice. "We'll all be naked by the time that happens!"

Timid gasped again. Affection walked over and squeezed her hand reassuringly, and almost apologetically. After that, a tense silence fell over the room.

Beast Boy looked around, before hesitantly asking, "Uh… what's reciprocate?"

His seemingly joking question broke the tension. A few emotions lost their footing from it, while others, namely Happy, just giggled. Rude rolled her eyes, thinking, 'If this were one of those Japanese cartoons, I'd hate to think of how much we'd hurt from the face-fault that would have caused.'

"Thank you, Beast Boy," Wisdom said. "That really helped to lighten the mood."

"… No, seriously, what's reciprocate?"

Anger groaned. "And this is the one who-"

Suddenly, everyone stopped. The echoing of stomping footsteps rung through Knowledge's library like a beating war drum, causing everyone to bunch up and look at the many bookshelf lined paths.

"Someone's in here," Happy whispered.

"What was your first clue?" Rude hissed back, growing quiet as the footsteps grew louder. A dark figure was quickly making its way towards them. Stepping out of the shadows, everyone recognized the figure.

Raven.

Growling, Anger stated what was on everyone's mind under her breath. "Shit."

Raven's eyes fell on Beast Boy first, but quickly began to scan the emotions. Her face grew blank as she looked at all her scantily dressed emotions, grouped tightly around the green boy. She stared for about five minutes before she finally snapped out of her trance-like state with a glare.

"What the hell is going on here!"

* * *

Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. Life got busy. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter yet! Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure it is.

Anyway... I don't think I have anything else to say, so... feel free to review. We'll try to get the next chapter up quicker than this one.

Tammy Tamborine


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

There was a nervous silence as Raven waited for an answer to her previous question. Raven tapped her foot, and the sound echoed ominously through the silent room. She was getting impatient… that was never a good thing.

"Well?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm waiting."

"It's not what you think," Brave began, forcing herself to look Raven in the eye. Gulping, she looked away. Even Brave wasn't too proud to admit that an angry Raven was not to be taken lightly.

"Really? What I am I supposed to think?" Raven asked angrily. "I was expecting complete and utter chaos, not a group of stripper wannabes crowding around Beast Boy liked he's some prized possession!"

Timid flinched at Raven's harsh words, while Rude had to fight back laughing at the crude statement.

"Raven, you need to calm down," Wisdom said evenly. "You have no reason to be angry."

"This coming from someone in a satin gown?" Raven retorted sarcastically. "Why should I? First, Beast Boy goes into my room- without my permission, I might add. Then, he goes into my mind, despite how angry he KNOWS it would make me. Then, I find my emotions not only crowding around him like some prized possession, but also dressed in clothing that not even most prostitutes would wear! Oh no, no reason to be angry at all."

"I didn't mean to go into your mind," Beast Boy protested, once Raven had finished her rant. "I was coming to your room to apologize, and I accidentally stepped on your mirror and got sucked in!"

Raven glared at him. "That still doesn't explain why they're crowding around you like that, or why they're dressed the way they are."

"I can answer that," Knowledge spoke up. Raven turned to her, waiting for an explanation.

"Then explain. Now," Raven demanded.

"All right," Knowledge replied. "Shortly after Beast Boy's arrival in your mind, our clothing began to change-"

"So this is your fault," Raven hissed, pointing at Beats Boy accusingly. "I should have known."

"You mustn't accuse him, Raven," Knowledge reprimanded. "This is, for the most part, _your_ fault."

"My fault?" Raven repeated. Her tone was disbelieving, but her expression was one of shock, judging by her wide eyes.

"Yes," Knowledge confirmed. "You have been denying an emotion for a while now, and her powers have finally broken free of her control. Beast Boy's presence was merely… a catalyst, of sorts."

"I haven't denied an emotion since the incident with Wicked Scary," Raven replied indignantly.

"Knew you would say that," Rude muttered.

Raven glared at her, but Knowledge nodded her agreement.

"You may not have felt this emotion's presence when she first appeared, but the fact that she even exists is proof that you feel her. You've been denying her so much that it was only a matter of time before all this happened. Though, even my intellect could never have predicted such… repercussions," she said, gesturing at her and the other emotions' clothing. Knowledge was noticeably embarrassed by now, though whether because of their outfits, admitting she couldn't have known something, or a combination of both, Raven couldn't tell.

Raven groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Would you like to stop tip-toeing around it and tell me which emotion I'm supposedly denying, or do I have to force it out of you?"

Knowledge and Wisdom exchanged uneasy glances. Before either could speak, however, Affection stepped forward.

"I'm the emotion you've been denying," she said, her voice slightly tinged with regret.

Raven studied the emotion for a minute, unsure of what to think. She was surprised, to say the least, that this emotion was not only polite, but also quite willing to take the blame. Compared to some of her more emphatic emotions, such as Happy or Timid, this other emotion seemed less erratic- even a bit more balanced than some of the others.

The emotion seemed calm, and her voice was filled with kindness. Raven felt a bit of warmth spread through her, simply by being in this strangely comforting emotion's presence.

Raven looked at the emotion curiously. Her anger, though still present, had been mostly subdued and replaced by a desire to know who this strange emotion was. "Who are you?"

"I can't tell you which emotion I am," Affection replied apologetically. "That's something you have to figure out on your own. Considering the circumstances though, I can give you some hints."

"Thank goodness for loopholes," Anger grumbled. "You'd just better figure it out before we're left standing in our birthday suits. You've been denying her for too long, and I'm getting sick and tired of it... and of these damn outfits."

"Why in the world would you be getting naked?" Raven asked, narrowing her eyes.

Anger groaned. "Like we have a choice? It seems the stronger 'Miss Violet's out of control powers grow, the skimpier they become."

"Then, I guess we'd better fix this quickly," Raven stated with a sweatdrop. She turned to Affection, planning on asking her to continue, but nearly tripped when she heard Rude's response.

"Yeah, we all know how much you'd hate to be joining us by the time the denial gets to ya."

"You mean to say that I'll be effected soon as well if this isn't stopped?" Raven asked, a bit hesitantly.

"Kind of a rhetorical question, don't ya think?" Rude asked, smirking at the astonished look on Raven's face. Raven turned to Knowledge for confirmation.

"She's right, I'm afraid," Knowledge nodded. "If you do not figure it out soon, and act upon the feeling, you will begin to become effected in a way that is somehow involved with the denied emotion, just as we have become affected via our apparel."

"Great," Raven groaned, confidence beginning to falter. She turned to Affection. "Go on then. What are the hints?"

"For starters, I'm one of your most powerful emotions," Affection replied. "Yet at the same time, I'm an emotion that's almost never immediately recognized, or even acknowledged."

Raven frowned. She searched her mind for an emotion that might fit that description, but nothing stood out. She gestured for Affection to continue.

"Well… I can bring great comfort, and unlock the strength one can have within," she informed Raven. "But I am often feared, because of the changes that can occur."

"You're powerful, yet rarely acknowledged immediately. You bring comfort and strength, but you are sometimes feared," Raven said, almost to herself as she tried to figure out the riddle that was this mystery emotion. Raven groaned. "You're a pain in the ass is what I think."

Seeing the confusion hidden behind Raven's frustration, Affection sighed.

"Perhaps it would be easier if I told you some of the moments in which you felt me strongest?" she suggested.

"All right," Raven agreed. She walked over to the forgotten desk in the back of the library area they were in and sat down at the chair. "Go ahead. I'm ready."

Affection nodded. "Well, remember when Beast Boy made you laugh, when you first met him?"

Raven nodded, and Affection smiled proudly. "You felt me then."

Raven thought back, smiling lightly as she remembered how she had felt at that moment. Although she could easily remember how she had felt, she couldn't quite put a name to it.

"That was also the moment that Beast Boy made it his personal goal to harass us everyday to make us laugh," Rude joked.

"Oh, don't be such a meanie, Rude," Happy scolded, smiling widely, "I think it's sweet of him."

"Hey, I never said I don't like it," Rude replied, smiling at Beast Boy. Raven looked at Rude incredulously.

"What?" Rude asked, noticing Raven's expression. "At least he tries. And even if most of his jokes make you wanna bash your head in, once in a while he stumbles across a genuinely funny one."

Raven nodded, agreeing reluctantly, and Beast Boy smiled proudly.

"Too bad he only seems to be funny when he's not trying," Rude continued. "With how determined he is lately, that's a pretty rare occurrence."

An indignant look crossed Beast Boy's face, but Rude simply smirked playfully.

"Aw, don't listen to her, BB," Happy said. "_I_ like _all_ of your jokes."

"Really?" Beast Boy asked excitedly.

"Of course! You're one of my best friends; I'm pretty sure I _have_ to like 'em!" Happy giggled, slinging one of her arms around his shoulders in a half hug.

"So, I'm one of your _best_ friends now?" Beast Boy asked, grinning.

"Uh huh," Happy confirmed, "One of my extra super, very, very best friends!"

"Right…" Raven drawled as she watched the exchange.

"Well, you're one of my extra super, very, very best friends too!" Beast Boy told Happy playfully. The pink emotion let out a delighted squeal and pulled the changeling closer.

There was a light groan from Knowledge, Wisdom, and Affection- perhaps having guessed what would soon follow Happy's little outburst- and Raven soon found out why.

As Happy and Beast Boy danced around happily in each other's arms, Happy's clothing began to change. In fact, all of the emotion's clothing was changing. Raven watched in surprise as shirts grew tighter, skirts grew shorter, and more skin was visible all around.

"What the hell just happened?" Raven asked, looking around, wildly taking in the slight change in wardrobe.

"You know, no matter how lame that was, it could be considered somewhat cute," Brave commented, ignoring Raven.

"You got the lame part down," Rude snorted. "'You're my extra super best friend!' What is this, an episode of Barney? Still, I suppose I can see why it might have triggered a change."

"At least it was a small one," Knowledge pointed out. "Just imagine how Raven would have reacted if they were more than half-inch changes."

As it was, Raven's jaw was practically dragging on the ground as she looked around.

"Wait… this… what?" Raven spluttered, at a loss for words.

"This is the consequence of Violet's recent lack of control," Knowledge explained. "Does this give you a little more motivation to figure out what emotion she is?"

"All it's making me realize is that I have to get Beast Boy out of here, and get the problem under enough control that it'll stay in here and won't affect me in the real world," Raven replied sourly. "I don't see why that should give me more motivation to figure it out."

Knowledge frowned disapprovingly. "You know it's not that simple, Raven."

Scowling, Raven just shook her head. She sighed, a mixture of defeat and anger, and turned to Affection, motioning for her to continue giving examples.

Affection smiled and spent almost a full second and a half trying to think of another example.

"Well," she began, "There was always the last time Beast Boy came in here. You felt me plenty of times that day."

"Did I now?" Raven asked, sounding somewhat disbelieving.

Affection nodded. "First when you and Beast Boy realized that you both wanted to be friends, and then again when he helped you understand that your emotions- myself and the others, that is- are all a part of you. Later, you felt me again when you saw that Beast Boy was willing to forego breakfast for dinner, in favor of the tea that you like."

"We ended up having breakfast anyway," Raven pointed out.

"That's not the point," Affection replied evenly. "You saw that Beast Boy didn't mind trying something peaceful that you'd like, and that was when you felt me."

There was a moment of silence as everyone remembered that day. The silence was broken as Happy laughed, causing everyone to look at her.

"I was just remembering the look on Beast Boy's face when he saw that there was more than one 'Raven'," she explained, smiling widely. "It was so cute when he fainted, and he was drooling a little."

Brave smiled as she remembered that moment, blushing slightly. Timid, who had also been with them at the time, blushed furiously and ducked behind Wisdom (she really didn't like being hoodless at times like these).

"You fainted?" Raven smirked, choosing to ignore that last detail. Beast Boy blushed and laughed.

"Nooo…" he insisted, rather unconvincingly. "I might have… staggered a little, from the shock… but I never fainted… hehe."

"Smooth, Beast Boy. Real smooth," Brave commented, smirking. Beast Boy ducked his head, feeling rather embarrassed.

"You know, even if it was a bit stupid on his part, it was nice of Beast Boy to stay to help after you told him to go," Rude admitted.

"Especially with how dangerous it was to stay," Happy added, smiling.

Beast Boy grinned proudly, puffing his chest out.

"It really was brave, wasn't it?" he asked arrogantly.

"Are you going to be able to fit through the door with your head as big as it's getting?" Raven asked sarcastically.

"There's nothing wrong with a little confidence, Rae," Beast Boy insisted, smiling. Raven rolled her eyes and turned to face her other emotions. As she turned, Wisdom couldn't help but notice a small smirk on Raven's features.

"My favorite part was when Beast Boy suggested we have tea," Knowledge said, turning the conversation back to the day Beast Boy had gone into Raven's mind the first time. "It was quite considerate of him."

There was a mumble of agreement as the other emotions nodded their heads. Raven allowed a small smile to cross her features, as she was still facing away from Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy's always been considerate," a soft voice spoke up. Raven looked over at Timid in shock. She wasn't usually the kind of emotion to say something like that.

"Thanks, Timid," Beast Boy smiled, "That's really nice of you to say."

The shy emotion blushed and looked timidly at her shoes as Beast Boy flashed her a kind smile. Slowly, she looked up and smiled back.

Raven watched this exchange with slight confusion. What was going on? Compared to her usual behavior, Timid was almost acting… audacious? That was probably too strong a word, but Raven couldn't help but think it as she watched Timid and Beast Boy continue to smile at each other, seemingly unaware of the rest of the room staring at them.

"You're welcome," Timid replied, "I really do mean it, though. In fact, you've been considerate towards myself and the other emotions all day."

Having used up all her momentary bravery, Timid fell silent, blushing as she realized what she had said. She watched Beast Boy's reaction nervously. The green boy however, just smiled and pulled her into a hug.

She felt her knees going weak at the unexpected embrace, but Timid hesitantly returned the hug, smiling lightly.

Raven, who had watched the whole thing in disbelieving silence, gasped suddenly as their clothing began to change once more.

Timid looked down at her outfit in shock. The spandex portion of her shirt was now half way down her bosom. The lace underneath, thankfully, covered it, but it was thin enough now that some of her cleavage could be seen through it. There was a gap of about an inch and a half between the leggings of her outfit and the actual leotard that they had detached themselves from. An inch of that space was lace, attached to the leggings.

Timid jumped away from Beast Boy, hiding herself behind Knowledge again.

Knowledge's skirt no longer reached lower than her hip bones, rendering it completely pointless. The bottom of her blouse was higher, leaving a couple inches of skin visible between it and the top of her skirt. The buttons were no longer capable of coming together until below her ribcage.

Wisdom stood next to them, studying her own clothing. Her satin robe was barely three inches below her posterior, and she could feel that her skirt underneath was a couple inches shorter. The neckline of her blouse was quite low, and after taking a quick look into her robe, she realized that the top of her bra could be seen.

Rude's apparel was equally far from being modest. The bottom of her shirt now rested just below her breasts- much to Raven's horror. Her tight shorts were about two inches shorter, and the top elastic of her underwear was even more visible than before.

Happy's blouse had been tied in a knot just below her chest, as it no longer buttoned up at all. Under that, her bra was quite visible, although it was partially covered. Only barely, though. Her skirt was even more revealing than Knowledge's, as it was almost half an inch shorter. Her fishnet stockings remained the same, and her necktie was nothing more than a short, pink scarf around her neck.

Brave stood next to Happy, looking at her clothing with a strange amount of apathy. By now, her bottoms were so short that shiny green underwear could easily be seen in the back and a bit above the waistline of her shorts. Thin straps of material now held up her light green shirt, and the neckline was quite low on her chest. The bottom of her gi reached the bottom of her ribcage, which was at least a couple inches lower than the lighter shirt, had completely lost its sleeves, and the material was getting thinner.

The back of Affection's halter-style dress had lowered, stopping only a couple inches above the small of her back. The neckline dipped lower, showing off a bit more of the top of her bra, and the bottom of her dress showed off a fair amount of her derrière.

Off to the side, Anger's outfit was just as bad. Her crimson shirt sat barely an inch below her breasts, and still clung tightly against her skin. The straps had been reduced to red strings on her shoulders. Her red leather jacket (which was really more like a vest by now) was only slightly longer than the shirt. Her shorts- much like Brave's and Rude's- were short enough that dark red underwear could be seen in the back.

A dark blush seemed to have super-glued itself to Raven's face as she spent several minutes examining each outfit, though she kept her expression neutral. Beast Boy stood nervously in the center of the room, trying not to ogle Raven's scantily clad emotions, and failing miserably.

After a while, Raven looked up from her thorough investigation of their clothing. She looked around at her emotions with wide eyes and a painfully clenched jaw. She took a deep breath, and then another one. For a minute, a few emotions were almost afraid she was trying not to hyperventilate. As her breathing began to slow down, she looked over at the green boy standing in the middle of the area. Without warning, she slapped Beast Boy on the back of the head, although not hard enough for it to hurt.

"Stop staring," she commanded, before turning to Affection. She took another deep breath and said in a slightly shaky voice, "Go on."

"There was the time with the Beast," Affection said. "When you went to talk to him on the beach outside of the tower. You felt me during your talk."

"I remember that day," Beast Boy said quietly. "I still can't believe that… thing is a part of me. I was feeling pretty upset. I'm glad you came to talk to me. It helped a lot."

"It was only logical to help you after you've helped us so many times before," Knowledge replied, with just a small tinge of pink in her cheeks.

"We couldn't just sit around while one of our good friends was hurt," Wisdom added, "And you did save our life, after all."

Beast Boy smiled and looked down at the ground bashfully. "I'd do anything for you."

Wisdom smiled lightly. "It is only fair that we do what we can to repay such a strong, kind person for all the assistance he has given unto us. Raven may not admit it, but if you ever need help, you can always come to us."

Raven glared at Wisdom, but did not deny what she had said.

"I totally agree with Wisdom," Happy said, grinning. "Whenever, wherever, we'll be there for ya, BB."

"Well, in all honesty, we might not _always_ be there at the right moment, but we'll do our best," Rude smirked, inducing a small chuckle from Beast Boy.

"What are you laughing at?" Anger snapped, "We damn well mean it, and you laugh at us?"

"N-no!" Beast Boy stammered, "I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that… hearing you say that… it just… makes me happy."

Anger raised an eyebrow skeptically, and Beast Boy continued.

"Knowing you'll always be there for me," he clarified, "It makes me glad that I'm lucky enough to know you. And I hope you all know- you especially, Raven- that the same goes for you. If you ever need to talk, or anything at all, I'm there."

A rosy hue crossed the cheeks of the Ravens, and they all turned to see Anger's response.

"Y-yeah," she stammered, "Well… good. If you know what's good for you, you'd better remember that."

Beast Boy smiled, looking the red emotion in the eye. "Thanks, Anger."

Anger quickly looked away, still red from earlier. Though she retreated into a corner and resumed glaring at the crowd of emotions, Wisdom and Knowledge couldn't help but notice a smile on her face. It was small- barely even a smirk- but it had been there.

Suddenly, Rude emitted a loud groan, turning Beast Boy's attention away from Anger. He turned just in time to see their clothing begin to change.

Cursing loudly, Rude watched as her shirt raised slightly from its precarious placement just below her breasts. Luckily, nothing could be seen, but she'd have to be careful when moving around. Her shorts, amazingly, disappeared, leaving her in her underwear. The changes weren't done though. Barely a split second after the first part of her changes, her panties and shirt transformed into a bathing suit material.

"What the hell?" Rude muttered, feeling the material in confusion. "Well… this is new."

"And weird," Brave agreed, looking at her own outfit. Her shorts had disappeared as well, and the panties underneath had turned into a bikini bottom. Her light green shirt had changed into a bathing suit top, resting just below her breasts. The former gi was now quite thin and sat on top of her light green swim shirt like a light vest one might wear to the beach.

Anger growled in agreement as she examined her own shorts, which had done the same thing as Brave's and Rude's. The straps on her shirt had completely disappeared, leaving her wearing a tight fitting, strapless bathing suit top. Her dark leather vest remained the same (although it was a bit shorter) and seemed a bit out of place matched with her newly acquired bathing suit.

Knowledge's blouse had been tied under her chest, no longer able to button up at all (in fact, it was almost a miracle that it had even reached around her torso far enough to be tied). The material of her shirt had gone sheer enough that the outline of her yellow bra could easily be seen through the light-colored blouse. Her skirt was barely more than a half inch wide belt, with a small hint of a ruffle on the bottom.

Next to her, Wisdom was looking at her own outfit in surprise. And she was quite hard to surprise.

Her own skirt, which had been considerably longer than Knowledge's, was now nothing more than a strip of chocolate brown cotton around her hips. Her shirt underneath was still there, although the material was quite sheer, and the bottom of it was a couple inches above her bellybutton. Much to her relief, she still had her satin robe on top, which hid the fact that her skirt was almost non-existent and her shirt was just as bad as the others. Although, considering how short it was (barely two inches below her rear end), the small coverage wasn't going to last for long.

Timid stood next to her, shyly looking out at the others. She seemed desperate not to look at her own outfit, and who could blame her, really? The V-shape of her spandex neckline had lowered quite a lot, now ending in a narrow point a little below her breasts, and the sides were getting wider. The lace in between was rapidly growing thinner, as the holes in the fabric grew larger. The leggings had moved down her legs, leaving more space between her leotard and the lace topping off her leggings.

Affection's dress was about an inch longer than Knowledge's skirt, while the back of the dress dipped down so that it was barely a centimeter above the back of her panties. The neckline was now low enough that almost her entire bra could be seen, except for the side close to her arms, which were still covered by the dress.

Happy's outfit looked much like Knowledge's. Or at least, their skirts were the same. Happy's blouse, however, had grown much smaller than Knowledge's. So much so, that she couldn't even tie the ends together anymore. Instead, the sleeveless light pink blouse sat on her shoulders and by her sides, giving everyone a good view of her bra.

"This isn't happening… this isn't happening… this isn't happening," Raven muttered, closing her eyes tightly. Noticing her distress, Beast Boy quickly shut his jaw (and prayed to whatever benevolent god that might be listening that none of her emotions had noticed his drooling and staring, lest he be in a world of pain) and walked over to Raven.

He cautiously placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She jumped at the unexpected contact and quickly pulled herself together, shrugging his hand off. She turned to Affection with a determined air.

"Give me another example, and make it a good one," she demanded.

Affection nodded, but hesitated. Though the memory may have been a good one, the ones that came with it were less than desirable. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Beast Boy. With a small smile, she continued on more confidently.

"Do you remember when… when Malchior broke our heart?"

Raven winced, along with the other emotions in the room. Even Happy appeared quite subdued.

"I'll take that as a yes," Affection said softly. Out of instinct she held out a hand for Raven, who accepted it. "You felt alone; like no one cared and no one ever would. You felt more… creepy than ever. And it was horrible."

Raven looked down at the ground as she remembered exactly how she had felt then. She had been miserable.

"But then," Affection continued, "You heard a knock on your door. It was Beast Boy, and he told you that you're never alone. He comforted you even though, at the time, you didn't think it was possible to ever be happy again. And you… appreciated it. A lot. So much that you left the solace and privacy of your bedroom, and you hugged him, never wanting to let go."

"I remember that day!" Beast Boy exclaimed, breaking the short silence that followed Affection's speech. "I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do," he sighed, and looked a bit regretful, "If only Cy hadn't interrupted by chucking that nasty stank ball at my head…"

He trailed off, and Anger looked over at him with a strange expression on her face.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be any hint of anger in her voice, only curiosity.

Beast Boy blushed. "Uh, I mean, uh… I, er…" he slumped down, "I got nothin'."

"That's so sweet of you, BB," Happy laughed, smiling gratefully, "I'm sure you would have done something to help us even more, if you'd had the time."

"But, the fact is, you were there for us in the first place, when we really needed it, and that's good enough for us," Brave finished, getting the gist of what Happy was saying.

Beast Boy blushed, and rubbed his neck bashfully, a large grin on his face. The emotions smiled back, and even Raven cracked a small smile as she watched from her spot next to Affection. Wisdom and Knowledge stood on her other side.

"He's always there for you," Wisdom pointed out, "No matter how big or small the problem may be."

"And he's always done everything he can to make you happy," Knowledge added.

Raven nodded, never taking her eyes off the green boy. She turned her attention away from him, however, as all around the room, her emotions' outfits began to change. Raven sighed. 'How very shocking,' she thought sarcastically.

To her left, Affection's outfit could no longer be considered a dress. The bottom of the dress had raised an inch or two above her hips, effectively turning it into a violet shirt. Her panties had gone from silk to a blend of nylon and spandex. Her bra was made of the same bathing suit material as her underwear, a fact that could easily be seen, as the neckline of her 'shirt' went almost two inches below it.

Raven turned to her left, where Knowledge and Wisdom were standing, looking at their outfits.

The bottom hem of Wisdom's robe was high enough now that a flash of dark brown panties could be seen from the back. Though she did her best not to draw attention to herself, Raven noticed Wisdom carefully looked inside her robe to inspect the changes to her outfit underneath. Though it was only a brief second, Raven was able to see that under Wisdom's robe, her shirt had become nothing more than a light brown mesh shirt, which easily showed the chocolate brown bra underneath, and only stopped around the middle of her waist.

The ruffle of material that had previously been Knowledge's skirt was now barely and inch wide, and had attached itself to the top of her panties (which had, like many of the others, turned into a bikini bottom). Her blouse could no longer be tied, and so it hung loose, stopping just below her bust line and giving everyone an undisturbed view of her bathing suit top.

Raven frowned at their clothing, and turned away before she could fuss too much about them. She could do that _after_ she had looked at the other emotions.

Next, she turned her scrutinizing eye on Timid. The top of her gray spandex leotard had become almost bustier-like, having completely lost its straps. The lace had once again grown thinner, showing even more cleavage than before. The bottom of her leotard was beginning to rest a little higher on her hips, and the outfit's former leggings had lowered, resulting in a fair amount of her legs being shown off. Altogether too much sex appeal for Timid, or anyone, in Raven's opinion.

Happy stood next to Timid. Like Knowledge, her clearly visible underwear had turned into bathing suit material. Her former skirt had melded with her bikini bottoms in the form of a decorative light pink belt against the darker pink swimwear. The light blouse that had been sitting on top- unbuttoned and untied from the previous change- was even smaller and sheerer than before, rendering it completely useless. Realizing this fact, Happy was about to take off the now slightly uncomfortable shirt but, noticing Raven's warning look, decided to leave it on for now.

Rolling her eyes, Raven turned to Brave. Her bathing suit top, which slightly resembled a sports bra with a T-shaped back, was showing even more cleavage at the top than it had before, and the bottom seemed like it was starting to slip up, just a bit. Her bathing suit bottoms had lifted up her hips, flaunting her legs even more than before.

Standing at Brave's right shoulder, Rude was the next to face Raven's critical gaze. Her outfit was much the same as the emotion next to her, except for a few differences. Her bottoms didn't show quite as much skin around her hips. However, in the back, her… curves had become slightly more defined. Her bathing suit top had lifted a little more than Brave's as well, and Raven paled as she realized that a fair portion of the bottoms of her breasts could be seen.

Lastly, Raven turned to Anger. The sides of her dark red bathing suit bottom had raised up her hip even more than Braves, leaving little more than a rope of fabric keeping the back and front together. Her strapless bathing suit top had become skinnier, and dipped slightly in the middle, due to a bit of ruching in the middle.

Sighing, Raven looked around at her emotions. Five of her eight emotions were crowded around Beast Boy, who could no longer hide the fact that he was on cloud nine sitting in the middle of the group of scantily clad Ravens, while Wisdom, Knowledge, and Affection remained at Raven's side.

Remembering the cause of the last change, Raven looked at the unknown emotion standing next to her. The girl in question didn't notice Raven looking at her, as she gazed at Beast Boy fondly.

And then it hit her like a semi truck.

"You're… you're Love, aren't you?" Raven asked, loud enough that everyone in the room turned to look at her in surprise.

"Close. I'm Affection, although at the rate this is going, it won't be long before I turn into Love," she replied, smiling softly. Raven looked at her in shock, and for a moment, silence filled the room.

Rude looked around uncomfortably. Feeling the need to alleviate the heavy atmosphere, she cleared her throat. "Well, if no one else is going to say it I will: No shit, Sherlock."

* * *

She finally figured it out! But how will she react to this new information? Guess you'll have to wait to find out, eh? ;)

Any questions/comments/concerns? Feel free to leave a review!

-Tammy Tamborine


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

A heavy silence fell upon the group while Raven attempted to get her thoughts straight. Almost everyone was looking at Raven, while anyone who wasn't had her eyes glued on Beast Boy for his reaction. The green boy simply stared in shock at Raven.

"So… you love… some guy?" he asked. His voice was tinged with disbelief and something else. It almost seemed like… jealousy? Raven pushed the idea away almost immediately. She had enough things to worry about for the moment.

"Like I said," Affection replied, "I'm not quite Love yet, but maybe soon."

"Oh," Beast Boy replied stiffly, "Well… I guess my work here is done. C'mon, Raven. We should get going."

There were a few quiet protests in the form of whining (mainly from Happy but also, surprisingly, from Timid). Raven ignored them, for the most part, and frowned at Beast Boy's strange behavior.

"Are you okay?" Raven asked, scrutinizing him carefully.

"Yeah, what's with the mood swings?" Rude threw in. "First you're all calm, and now, you act like someone shoved a stick up your-"

"Rude!" Raven hissed angrily.

Despite himself, Beast Boy let out a small chuckle. Raven frowned, still waiting for an answer. The changeling sighed and pasted a smile on his face. "I'm fine," he insisted.

Raven narrowed her eyes. He was being faker than a car salesman and she knew it, but she was willing to let it slide for now. "All right."

"What?" Brave exclaimed. "No, no, no! You can't just let him leave. He's lying, and we all know it!"

"It really is quite obvious," Knowledge agreed, nodding her head. A murmur of agreement echoed around the room.

"Wh-why are you… l-lying to us, Beast Boy?" Timid asked softly. Tears were starting to form in the gray emotion's eyes, causing Beast Boy to feel a flood of guilt.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "It's just… it's complicated."

"No, it's not," Anger accused, narrowing her eyes, "You're just being –ARG! You said that you trust us, and you can't take it back now! All day you've learned so many of our secrets, yet right now, you won't trust us enough to tell us what's going on in your tiny little head! Just tell the truth! WHAT IS WRONG!"

By now, Anger's face was mere inches from Beast Boy's, and she was breathing heavily. Her words echoed around the room, while everyone watched in silence. Beast Boy stared back, flinching slightly under her angry gaze.

"I do trust you," Beast Boy replied, trying to meet Anger's eyes. He found he couldn't. "It's just… I can't tell you this one thing. Anything else, just not this."

A heavy silence followed his statement. Anger glared at him, and Beast Boy forced himself to look back, despite the guilt that seemed to be filling every inch of his body. For a brief second, something other than anger flashed through the emotion's eyes. Despite its quickness, Beast Boy knew right away that it was disappointment, and he had to look away.

A low growl rolled in the back of Anger's throat, and with one final scowl, she turned away from him. She took two angry steps before turning back.

"I hope that someday you learn how to keep your promise and trust us," she snarled, "I plan on fuckin' keeping mine."

Having said what she wanted to, she turned around and continued to stomp across the small library clearing. As she brushed past, Wisdom couldn't help but notice a tear glide down Anger's still scowling face.

As the red emotion disappeared into the shadows cast by the bookshelves, a tense silence filled the room. No one was sure what to say. So for a while, the only sound that could be heard was breathing and the fading echoes of Anger's footsteps as she left Knowledge's realm. After everything that had happened, no one even noticed their clothing changing again.

Raven's jaw clenched in anger as she looked around the room. Brave had a grim expression on her face, and her eyes were fixed on the floor. Timid was curled up at her feet, hugging her knees as a steady stream of silent tears poured down her face. Though Rude did her best to appear indifferent to the scene that had just taken place, her rigid shoulders could be seen from space. Affection was worriedly chewing on her thumbnail, her gaze flicking nervously back and forth between Beast Boy, Raven, and the shadowy aisle Anger had disappeared into. Both Knowledge and Wisdom refused to meet Raven's eyes. Even Happy wore a frown.

Finally, her eyes fell on the source of her emotions' obvious discomfort, Beast Boy. She felt as though she should get angry with him for causing all this inner turmoil, but as she looked at him, she found she couldn't. His pointy ears drooped, like a kicked dog, and his expression was one of distress and guilt. Pity welled in Raven, and she felt the undeniable need to leave.

"I think it's time to go," she said. Her voice seemed loud, and out of place as it cut through the silence like a knife. Beast Boy walked over to her without protest, morosely dragging his feet on the tile floor.

"No, Beast Boy," Timid spoke up. Her voice trembled slightly, but she spoke loud enough that he turned around to look at her, along with everyone else. "Don't go- don't-"

Affection quickly walked over and wrapped her arms around Timid as the gray emotion choked on her words and struggled to stop her still flowing tears. Silently, Beast Boy walked over to where the emotions had grouped together and kneeled down by Timid. She tried to speak again, but it only came out as a small whimper.

Taking a deep breath, Brave decided to speak for her. "We don't want you to leave. You're upset and-" _You don't really understand why Affection's here._ The words rung through her head, but she couldn't bring herself to speak them.

"You- you can't just leave, Beast Boy," Rude stuttered. "Just stay a little longer and we'll explain everything…"

"We have to go," Raven said from her spot a few feet away from the group.

Beast Boy looked at all the emotions apologetically, and felt another pang of guilt as he noticed that everyone had tears in their eyes, although some hid it better than others. Standing up, he sighed and turned away.

As Raven led Beast Boy into the maze of bookshelves that was Knowledge's realm, she could feel seven pairs of eyes on their backs, but no one moved and she didn't want to look back. Beast Boy kept his eyes to the ground while he walked.

Words burned at the back of Raven's throat as they walked, but she wasn't sure what they were or how to say them. She wasn't even sure how she felt at the moment. So, they walked in silence through the dark bookshelves.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably little more than ten minutes, they came to a stop in front of a portal. She looked over at Beast Boy, who simply stared ahead. His face was now unreadable.

Turning to the portal, she mumbled her mantra under her breath. The stone arch sparked to life in a swirl of light that would return them to the outside world instead of sending them to another realm.

Raven stepped to the side to let Beast Boy go through first. As he passed she tried to catch his eye, but he didn't look over at her as he stepped into the spiraling vortex. Raven followed at his heels.

After a few brief seconds, Raven found herself standing in her bedroom with her meditation mirror at her feet. Beast Boy sat next to her, unused to the jolt that came with traveling through the mirror. He silently picked himself up from the ground and walked towards the door.

"So, you're just going to leave?" Raven asked, stopping him in his tracks.

"Yeah, pretty much," Beast Boy tried to joke. He began to turn again to leave, but Raven went on.

"You can't just stop speaking to me," Raven insisted, "You probably don't even fully understand all that's happened."

"Oh no, I do," Beast Boy replied, trying to sound nonchalant, "You're in love with someone, your angry with me on some level for not telling you something, and all day, I made a complete fool of myself inside your head."

Raven sighed impatiently. "Do you even know who Affection was referring to?"

"I have a few ideas," Beast Boy replied, folding his arms confidently. Raven shot him a disbelieving look, and he shrugged. "Fine, I got nothin'. But it doesn't really matter whether I know who it is or not, does it?"

"You'd be surprised," Raven grumbled, rolling her eyes. "It concerns you more than you think."

"Like hell it does," Beast Boy scoffed, "You're always telling me to stay out of your business, and right now, I'm trying to. I mean, I get it. This is between you, and whoever that guy is… It is a guy, right?"

"Of course it's a guy!" Raven replied indignantly.

"Well, whatever. I guess it really doesn't matter to me which way you swing. Either way, the guy you like isn't me, so it doesn't concern me."

"Actually-"

"You know," he continued, not even noticing her attempt to interrupt him, "You could totally have any guy you wanted. I mean, you're pretty, and smart, and confident, and you've got your own sense of humor, and doesn't everyone want that? Not only that, you're… well, you're you!"

"What are you talking about?" Raven protested. "Are you feeling all right? You're not making any sense."

"And you're modest!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "I mean, there's confidence, and then there's just plain conceited, and you don't cross that line."

"Beast Boy, stop. You're rambling," Raven told him in a no-nonsense tone of voice. He ignored her.

"Not that I'd blame you if you were conceited. After all, you're gorgeous, Rae. Your hair, your eyes, your body, everything! And you don't even have to be wearing those skimpy outfits your emotions had on before we left to be sexy."

"Please, Beast Boy," Raven groaned, sitting down on her bed. A furious blush had made its way to her face, and she was beginning to feel self-conscious, despite Beast Boy's praising words. "Just stop."

"Why should I stop, Rae?" Beast Boy asked, laughing slightly, "It's all true. You're so awesome, Rae. Ah man, whoever this guy that you like so much is, he's one lucky dude. Seriously, who is it?"

Seeing her chance, Raven looked up at him. "I've been trying to tell you that it's-"

"He must be Mr. Perfect," Beast Boy plowed on. He must have heard her, but he continued on as if he hadn't. "Wow, I don't even know who he is, but I'm totally jealous of him. He's really lucky if you love him. I should have known that someone as wonderful as you couldn't love someone like me."

"What do you mean, someone like you?" Raven asked, frowning.

"Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about," Beast Boy replied, "I'm lazy, I'm not as funny as I like to think I am, I'm ugly, I can be really obnoxious, the list goes on."

"Beast Boy, you really shouldn't think that way about yourself," Raven chided.

"Why not?" Beast Boy scoffed, "I mean, I am all that stuff and more. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty repulsive. I smell like tofu and dirty socks, and my room smells worse. I clip my toenails at the table, and never clean up the kitchen when I'm done. And I drool in my sleep. I bet you didn't know that, but I do."

"You're not repulsive," Raven insisted. Frustration and sadness began to well up inside of her as Beast Boy continued to berate himself. Did he really think all that? "You really aren't. Do you think I'd-"

"Even if I'm not repulsive (I still say I am, but whatever), I'm annoying. You can't say I'm not, because you've told me so many times before. I listen to my music way too loudly, usually when someone's trying to do something like read, or sleep. I constantly tell you my jokes, even though you don't find them funny, and I always pull pranks that usually get me in trouble," Beast Boy listed.

Raven's frown deepened, and she quickly protested. "Everyone is annoying sometimes; it just proves that you're human. And besides, haven't we already established that I like it when you tell me jokes, even if they really aren't very funny?"

"Sometimes even I don't think I'm human," Beast Boy said, ignoring Raven's second point.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked, brows furrowing, "Of course you're a human. What else would you be?"

"I don't know," Beast Boy replied, throwing his hands up in the air, "But come on, Rae, how many _green_ humans do you know?"

"Don't be like that, Beast Boy," Raven pleaded, "You're human. You can't help the color of your skin, and none of us care. We like you for you. _I_ like you for you. Well… actually I lo-"

"And it's not even just my skin color! My ears are pointy. Pointy! And my hair is green too, and feels more like fur than real hair. Also, I've got fangs, if you hadn't already noticed. I'm a freak! I belong in a circus Freak Show!" Beast Boy ranted, scowling when he passed Raven's mirror as he paced around her room.

"Stop saying these things," Raven said. Though she felt slight frustration that he wasn't listening to her, it was overwhelmed by despair that he thought so lowly of himself. "It's not true!"

"I really shouldn't be surprised that you found someone you could really love. In fact, I'm a little jealous of you. It seems like I'm always losing the people I care about most, and who feel the same for me."

Looking over at his melancholic expression, Raven felt a wave of compassion wash over her. She felt the strong urge to walk over to him and hold his hand, but somehow, she just couldn't. Instead, she just waited for him to continue.

"First, there was my parents. They loved me more than anything in the world. I know they did, because they were my parents. They just… did. They loved me, even after I turned into the green… thing I am today. And then… well, then they died, and I was all alone for a while…."

He continued to pace the room, his gaze dropped to the carpet. A lump formed in Raven's throat, and again, she felt compelled to comfort the boy in front of her. She began to stand up, but then he continued to talk, and she sat down again.

"You know," Beast Boy spoke slowly, stopping his pacing to look out the window while he spoke, "I've liked you since we met. I mean, at first it was just a small crush, but… yeah. Eventually, I just figured out that no matter how much I tried to get you to like me, it just wasn't going to happen. And then Terra came along…"

Raven's breath caught in her throat. She knew she should say something now, something that would tell him how much she really did care, and that even if his efforts had gone virtually unnoticed by her, they hadn't been completely in vain. But she couldn't. He was talking about Terra now, and she couldn't bring herself to interrupt him.

"She was like the second choice, you know? I can't have this, but at least I can have that, kind of thing. Don't get me wrong! I liked Terra… a lot. Just in a different way. And, she liked me too. I liked that…" Beast Boy trailed off again, lost in memories of the geomancer. Raven felt a pang of jealousy, which she quickly shoved away, scolding herself. How could she be so selfish at a time like this?

"I was crushed when Terra died," Beast Boy continued, a bitter edge creeping into his voice, "but what crushed me more was the fact that it seemed to be getting clearer and clearer that… I'm just not meant to be loved. After all, who could love a green freak like me?"

"I-" 

"Save it, Raven," Beast Boy commanded gently, "I know I shouldn't have just rambled on like that, but I just wanted you to know how I feel. Someone as wonderful as you can't love someone like me, and I accept that. Whoever it is that you love, I really do hope that you're happy with him. But I can't just sit around here and watch it. So, goodbye Raven."

Raven's body froze. Her back stiffened, her shoulders went rigid, and she froze. His words rang in her head. Goodbye? This couldn't be goodbye! She hadn't told him how she felt yet. She felt a flash of anger course through her. Beast Boy was being awfully rude in his selflessness. Perhaps if he hadn't kept interrupting her while she was trying to confess her almost-love, he wouldn't feel like he needed to leave, and therefore, would never have said those words that had made her heart jump into her throat and her stomach plummet down to her feet.

Realizing she was on the edge of hysterics (not quite there yet, but fairly close), Raven shook her head and looked over at Beast Boy… only to see the door closing behind him on his way out.

Her eyes widened, and it felt as though her mind was working in slow motion as she tried to command her feet to chase after him. After what seemed like hours (although it had probably only been seconds), her legs kicked in, and she ran to her door.

"Beast Boy!"

Raven hurled herself into the hallway, almost hoping to crash into Beast Boy. Instead, she just came to a stop in the middle of the hall. She looked down the hall to her left, but nothing was there. Fearing the worst, she turned and looked in the other direction, and again, there was nothing. Beast Boy was gone.

* * *

The End.

Lol, I'm just kidding, of course. Anyway, sorry that this chapter was kinda short (It's like, half of the last chapter), but that seemed like a good place to stop. Let's hope most of you are okay with quality, not quantity. I'm happy with how the chapter turned out.

Next update might take a while, but maybe not. I'm going on a trip from the third to the ninth, so we'll see what gets done, and when, and hopefully you won't have to wait too long.

Tammy Tamborine


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Raven walked through the hallways purposefully. Though she walked at a very brisk pace, she remained calm. On the outside, at least. In all honesty, Raven could feel herself beginning to panic. She had only been looking for about three minutes, but she hadn't found him yet, and that scared her.

"Beast Boy!" Raven called. Her voice echoed through the empty hall she was in, but no one replied. "Beast Boy, I want to talk to you!"

Still, no one answered. With a long sigh, Raven leaned against a wall and closed her eyes. Where was he? Why wouldn't he come out? He must know she was looking for him.

Raven opened her eyes, groaning. "And there in lies the problem."

"You are having problems?" Starfire floated around the corner behind Raven, causing the empath to spin around in surprise. "Do you require assistance?"

Raven hesitated, considering Starfire's offer. If she found Beast Boy before Raven, she could always hold him down with her alien strength, and the help would be nice.

"No," Raven finally decided. "This is my problem. I need to do this myself. Thank you though."

"If that is what you wish, friend Raven," Starfire replied.

Raven nodded, turning to leave. A warm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"I would like to wish you good luck," Starfire told her, smiling. Raven stopped and looked at the girl floating before her. "I hope you find what you are looking for."

"Thank you, Starfire," Raven replied, offering her a small, but genuine smile. The alien's smile grew wider, and she turned and flew away. Raven watched her leave for a second, before turning and continuing her search.

-

Pandemonium. Disorder. Bedlam. Three excellent words to describe Raven's mind after Beast Boy's long-winded speech.

Timid sat in a corner, hugging her legs and sobbing for all she was worth. Rude was pacing back and forth, cursing colorfully about everything and everyone that had been mentioned during Beast Boy's ramble. Brave was also outraged, grumbling about Raven's "cowardice" in not telling him sooner. Anger was muttering under her breath and throwing books and other small objects around the room. Her four red eyes glared angrily at anyone who tried to stop her. Knowledge was following Anger around, picking up books after her, but this seemed mostly out of habit, as she worriedly chewed on her lip, obviously thinking of Beast Boy. Happy had decided to stay positive, and was literally jumping for joy over Beast Boy's confession. Affection had joined in on the celebration when Happy had grabbed her arms and begun spinning, but she seemed distracted over her worry for the changeling.

And Wisdom… well, Wisdom watched all of this in defeat, knowing nothing she could say would calm them down. Finally, she decided this was not a time for words; it was a time for actions.

Calmly, she walked across the room to where Timid sat. Lifting her hand, she slapped the crying emotion across the face. It hadn't been hard, but it got Timid to stop and look at Wisdom in surprise. Within the next minute, Rude and Brave both had their mouths sealed shut, Anger was tied up with a chain of paper, a book was pried from Knowledge's hand, and Happy had not returned to the ground after her latest excited jump. Everyone froze and looked over at Wisdom.

She smiled. _Now_ was the time for words. Gently lowering Happy to the ground, Wisdom let her powers dissipate and looked back at everyone.

"Everyone needs to calm down," she informed them, "You've all been so busy getting worked up over Beast Boy that I doubt any of you have even noticed how much our outfits have changed."

Sure enough, after a couple confused blinks, the other emotions looked down at their clothing in surprise.

"Oh my god! I'm wearing butt-floss!"

"It's called a thong, Rude," Knowledge replied pointedly. "And you're not the only one."

Rude looked around. Much as she hated to admit it, Rude quickly realized that Knowledge was right, as usual. Along with herself, Brave, Happy, and Knowledge all sported thong bikini bottoms.

Along with her thong, Rude wore a string bikini top that had started rising up. The light orange material of her top seemed to be growing thinner- and therefore, slightly more see-through, but let's not dwell on that fact. The strings at the neck and at her back were tied messily, but they seemed tight enough that they wouldn't come undone. For now.

Brave's swimsuit top consisted of two triangles spaced widely apart. Still, at least they covered what they were meant to. A knot at the back of her neck held the top up, while a string a little below her shoulder blades ran across her back and held it in place.

Happy's bright pink top was clasped at the back by a clear plastic hook. The material stretched across her tightly, making every, uh… curve, more distinct. The straps of the swimsuit top were pulled up and tied behind her neck, like the others. Clear beads decorated the ends of the bikini strings, and made a small clicking sound as she turned to look at Knowledge.

Knowledge's top no longer had any straps. The two small circles of spandex-nylon material in the front were secured tightly around her chest by tightly clasped hooks at the back. The front sat low on her chest, giving everyone a good view of cleavage.

"These are highly inappropriate," Knowledge stated, almost to herself, as she twisted around to examine her own thong. An obvious blush had spread across her face. "And impractical," she concluded. Pushing up her glasses (which, by now, were almost non-existent), she lifted her chin with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Cry me a river," Anger snarled, crossing her arms. She wore a strapless top, just as revealing as Knowledge's. The dark red material stretched seamlessly across her back, tying up in the front. Her swimsuit bottom, while not a thong, was just as bad. It was low enough that she new if she bent the back would slide down and show a significant amount of her hindquarters. And let's not even mention how low the front was. It made Anger's blood boil just thinking about it.

Wisdom shook her head, knowing that it would be futile to try and stop their snappish comments in a situation like this. Her own outfit was as revealing as the rest. Her own top was much like Knowledge and Anger's, except that it had one strap crossing from the left side of her top to her right shoulder. Her bottoms were the same as Anger's, except that they were the same chocolate brown as her top.

Affection stood next to her. The front and back of the purple bikini bottom she wore were connected by a thin string, tied in a perfect bow on each side. The back wasn't wide enough to cover her entire derriere, but it did the job. The two sides of the front of her bikini were spread apart, showing off much cleavage. Two more bows were tied at the back of her neck and torso to keep the top secure.

Unlike the others, Timid was not wearing a bikini. However, she found herself wishing with every fiber in her body that it were, for surely, a bikini would be much better than the skin showing, skimpy _monstrosity_ she was wearing now.

The one-piece swimsuit could only be described as a 'V'. It started as a strip of material between her legs, separating when it reached the lower abdomen. It continued upward, covering the center of each breast before going over her shoulders and doing the same in the back. The dark gray strips of spandex that made up the swimsuit were barely an inch and a half wide, much to the shy girl's discomfort. Her blush was so intense that it had quickly worked its way down past her shoulders, and was still getting worse.

"Well, look at it this way, Timid," Rude broke the silence as everyone gawked at Timid's outfit. "At least you won't need a tan at this rate."

The crude emotion laughed at her joke, but stopped abruptly as she received a smack in the head from Knowledge, Affection, AND Wisdom.

"Oww," she whined, rubbing the sore spots. "What'd I do?"

Her question was met by rolled eyes from everyone except Timid, who was still blushing quite profusely while trying to hide herself behind some of the others.

"What the hell do you think, _genius_," Anger snapped. "Quit picking on Timid. We've got enough problems, and we don't need you to make it worse, damn it."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rude replied, although it was obvious she wasn't. "I'm sorry for trying to lighten the mood when it's obviously heavy enough to weigh down even Happy!"

"Not this again," Wisdom sighed. "You two, separate! This is not the time to fight."

"Yes, mother," Rude grumbled, but complied, walking to the other side of the room. Anger simply remained silent and glared at Wisdom and Rude.

"I know that everyone's upset right now," Wisdom told the room of emotions, "And for some of you, that means you're going to want to make sarcastic comments and fight, but trust me when I say that that is not the best thing to do. We all need to remain calm, while Raven handles the situation. It does her, and us, no good to act like this."

"But… but what if Raven doesn't find him?" Timid asked quietly. Everyone waited in silence for Wisdom's answer.

"She will," Wisdom replied, after a minute.

"H-how do you know?"

"I don't," Wisdom admitted, "But we all know that Raven won't give up trying."

"You're right," Brave agreed, "We won't stop searching until we've found him."

"And told him how we really feel," Affection added.

-

Three short raps echoed through the hallway that Raven was in as she knocked on Beast Boy's door. A couple minutes passed, but no one opened the door. Growing impatient, Raven pressed her ear against the metal door. She couldn't hear anything.

"He might still be in there," Raven reasoned, "He might just not want to talk to me after what happened."

Closing her eyes, Raven pressed her palms against the door. A second later, she opened them again, having successfully passed through it.

Looking around Beast Boy's bedroom, Raven frowned.

Torn posters, old magazines, dirty laundry, old food, and various other things covered his floor, and his desk. His bed hadn't been made, and the blankets were hanging off the side. As she looked around, she came to the conclusion that the messy room was void of human life- although she had the strangest feeling that the plate of moldy tofu on his desk was watching her.

Slowly, Raven walked further into his bedroom, being careful not to step on anything. How anyone could stay in a room as disgusting as Beast Boy's was beyond her.

Raven stopped after only three steps. Something had caught her eye. On the desk next to her, right beside the plate of tofu, sat a leather bound photo album. Curiosity getting the better of her, Raven walked over.

After pushing a pile of dirty laundry onto the floor, Raven sat at the desk chair and looked at the closed book. Small doubts tugged at the back of her mind. What if he didn't want her to see it? What if it was extremely personal to him? Should she even be in his room in the first place? It was somewhat hypocritical of her, after all, to be in someone's room without their permission.

She shrugged these thoughts away. There were many pictures around his room, on the floor and messily taped on his walls, but Raven wanted to see what pictures were so important to him that he kept them in an album.

Before she could change her mind, Raven opened the album to the first page. A large picture of Titans Tower looked back at her. Next to it was a picture of herself, Robin, Cyborg and Starfire. It had been taken in the common room, and no one appeared to be looking at the camera. Robin and Starfire were on the left side, watching TV on the couch, Cyborg was walking towards that from the other side of the picture, and Raven was in the very center of the picture, meditating.

Raven flipped the page. Each side had four pockets to hold pictures. On the left side, were a picture of herself reading, one of Cyborg waving to the camera with an excited grin, another picture of Raven, this time with a slightly annoyed look directed at the picture taker, and a picture of all the Titans piled onto the couch.

On the other side was a picture of Robin and Starfire, both smiling brightly at the camera. Next to it was a picture Beast Boy had taken of himself by stretching his arms out in front of him and aiming the camera at himself. Cyborg's hand had entered last minute, giving him metal bunny ears. The other two pictures were of herself looking blankly at the camera and reading on the couch.

Flipping the page, Raven found three more pictures of herself, and one of all the Titans. In the first one, Raven was turning her head and talking, unaware of the camera that had caught her mid-blink, mouth open. The second picture was of her making a cup of tea, and the last was of her drinking the tea and staring into space. The picture of all the Titans had been taken at the park. All five were sitting under- and in Beast Boy's case, in- an old tree.

On the page next to it were a picture of Beast Boy and Cyborg posing like muscle builders, and a picture of Robin smirking for the camera. One of Starfire offering the camera holder some of her Tameranian cuisine with a hopeful smile, and the last was of Raven meditating, while Robin and Cyborg argued over a video game in the background.

Raven smiled a little and quickly flipped through the previous pages, counting. She was in ten of the seventeen pictures she had looked at so far. Though she despised having pictures taken of herself- she was convinced she wasn't photogenic- she couldn't help but feel a bit flattered that Beast Boy had so many pictures of her.

She was about to turn to the next page, when she noticed something sticking out of the side. A yellow post-it note had been placed further into the album, acting as some sort of marker. Interested, Raven flipped the album to the marked page.

The page she had flipped to only had one large pocket for photos and paper instead of four smaller ones. A piece of blank paper with messily scrawled words had been placed inside it.

"BB's totally awesome and amazing favorites," Raven read aloud. Raising an eyebrow with slight amusement, she turned the page.

Once again there were four pockets to hold pictures in, however only two of the pockets were used for pictures. Small slips of paper with comments written on them had been slipped into the other two.

The first picture was of all of the Titans standing outside the tower. On the piece of paper next to it, Beast Boy had written, _"My family, and my home."_ The second picture featured Raven and Cyborg playing chess. Both were playing such close attention to their game that neither had noticed the camera. Raven's lips curled up when she read the piece of paper next to the picture. _"My best friends."_

Flipping the page, Raven found a picture of Robin and Starfire and another of herself. In the first, Starfire had pulled Robin into a tight hug for the picture. Robin had a light blush on his face from the close contact, while Starfire simply looked ecstatic. The note next to it read: _"I wish they'd just kiss and get it over with… But then again, then we wouldn't get to watch Robin squirm."_

Chuckling softly, Raven turned her attention to the other picture. It was one of her training. Black energy surrounded her hands, and her eyes had turned white. A stream of energy had already been released and was making a beeline for the targets set up. The charred remains of another target sat next to it.

Next to the picture, Beast Boy had scrawled, _"Note to self: Never make Raven _this_ angry."_

Raven shook her head, smiling. Though she didn't like to admit it, Beast Boy could be pretty funny sometimes.

On the next page were two more pictures featuring the resident empath. The first picture had been taken on the couch. Raven's eyes were wide, and she was looking in horror at the screen in front of her. Beast Boy sat next to her, one arm pressed against hers, the other outstretched to take the picture. He looked a little shaken, but he had a big grin on his face.

"_I still can't believe I was able to shake off how scared I was from the movie long enough to take the picture," _He had written. _"But look how close I got to Raven. Thumbs up, dude!"_

Raven smirked. She remembered that night. All of the Titans had agreed to watch a horror movie (on the condition that Raven admit if she got scared), and partway through the movie, Raven had noticed that she had slowly been inching towards Beast Boy. At the time, she had told herself that it was just because he was the closest, and she just needed to be near someone during the scariest parts. Now, however, she was starting to wonder if that had been the only reason.

The second picture was of Raven meditating on the roof. The sun was setting behind her, casting a rosy glow on everything. _"I think sunset might be my favorite time of day… Everything's so beautiful. Even more than usual in this picture." _Beast Boy had stated on the slip of paper next to it. Unsure what to think about that one, but unable to stop the blush that crept to her face, Raven flipped the page.

Raven frowned, finding that the four squares on the next page were empty. The page next to it didn't have the same pockets that the others did. Instead, the page had only one pocket, in which an enlarged photo had been placed above a piece of paper.

The picture had been taken on a sunny day in the park. The dark girl was leaning against the trunk of an old tree with her eyes closed, obviously dozing. A small smile had made its way to her lips, and the picture taker had captured the moment. The piece of paper underneath was quite a bit longer than the others.

"_This is definitely my favorite picture,"_ Beast Boy had stated. _"Raven's actually smiling in it. That alone makes it the most beautiful thing in this entire album. Not that I could ever tell Raven that. How could I? How could I tell her that her smile could light up a room? Or that I would do anything to see her smile? I swear, I could live off of the feeling I get whenever Raven smiles. It's like, no matter what's going on, everything's going to be all right."_

Slowly, Raven closed the album, thoughts racing through her head.

Raven couldn't stop the smile that worked its way onto her face. That had probably been the most touching thing she had ever heard from Beast Boy. It filled her with a feeling that could only be described as warm and fuzzy. She had no idea he felt so strongly over something so small as a smile from her. How had she never noticed before?

Almost as soon as it had appeared, Raven's smile disappeared as reality hit.

Beast Boy still didn't know how she felt about him. She still didn't even know where he was. The thought of losing him…

Shaking her head, Raven stood up. She refused to give in. She wasn't beaten yet, and she sure as hell wasn't giving up without a fight.

* * *

I have to tell ya, describing all the emotions' outfits was pretty difficult. Not only was I blushing like crazy, it can be kinda hard coming up with different ways of describing bathing suits, when most of them are almost the exact same thing. ;)

Ah well, I'm glad with how it turned out. Hope you liked it. :D

Tammy Tamborine


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"That boy needs a leash!" Rude proclaimed, "Or a tracking device of some sort. Hell, a little bell around his neck to tell when he's around would be better than this!"

"Calm down, Rude," Knowledge sighed, "Raven will find him eventually."

"I don't want to calm down," Rude replied, folding her arms, "In fact, why am I the only one freaking out?"

"Actually, I think Timid is in shock, or else she probably would too," Brave pointed out. Timid simply continued silently staring ahead of her, not even blinking.

"I can't say I blame her," Affection said, "I mean… this is embarrassing."

Brave shrugged. "There's nothing any of us hasn't seen before."

"That really doesn't make it much better," Affection replied, "But thanks for trying."

Sighing, Affection fingered the purple collar around her neck. She could feel her name stitched into the satiny material. The collar was barely an inch wide, and it was the last bit of 'clothing' they had left. Other than the almost identical collars (they only differed in color and the names stitched on), none of the other emotions wore anything. She shuddered.

"It sure is cold in here," Happy commented, "And I thought that skirt was breezy."

"Oh, shut up," Anger hissed.

"Don't be so mean to her," Knowledge scolded. Happy didn't seem to mind though, and she continued.

"But I don't get it. Raven already accepted that she likes Beast Boy. Shouldn't things be going back to normal?"

"No," Knowledge shook her head, "Have you forgotten? It's too late now. Accepting it isn't enough. She has to tell him how she feels and have the feelings reciprocated."

"Well, at least we know that Beast Boy feels the same," Affection said, smiling warmly.

"You're right," Rude said, sitting down on one of the cushions Knowledge had given them to sit on (tile floors are cold, after all). "All she has to do is find him. There's nothing else left to really worry about, is there?"

"Um… guys?" Timid spoke, looking around the room hesitantly. "I've been thinking…"

"And?" Brave prodded.

"Well…" Timid continued quietly, looking down at the floor, "It's just, if we look like this… what does Raven look like?"

Knowledge's eyes grew wide, and she grew pale.

"Why does Knowledge look like she just swallowed a bug?" Happy asked, somewhat nervously.

"Well," Knowledge replied, looking at Timid, "She hasn't been effected… yet. But judging by the way that we look right now-" she paused and looked around the room, nodding reluctantly. "-I'd say she should be starting to be effected right about…"

-

Walking into the main room, Raven looked around. Her heart sunk as she saw that Beast Boy wasn't there. Robin and Starfire sat on the couch, watching a movie, while Cyborg was puttering in the kitchen. Raven realized that, by now, it was probably around dinnertime, but truthfully, food was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Friend Raven," Starfire greeted, looking over the couch, "Would you care to join us in the viewing of _'The Lady and the Tramp'_? It is a most wonderful story of earth dogs who are able to talk."

"No thank you, Starfire," Raven declined, "Has anyone seen Beast Boy?" She heard a hint of urgency in her own voice, and evidently, so did the others. Frowning, Robin and Starfire shook their heads no.

"I saw him a couple minutes ago," Cyborg said, walking over. He wore an expression that Raven was unable to read. "He was heading to the roof."

"Thanks," Raven nodded and turned to leave, but Cyborg stopped her.

"Raven, what's going on?" he asked.

"It's…" Raven stopped. She had been about to say that it was nothing. But it wasn't 'nothing'. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing to do with you."

He peered at her suspiciously, and Raven felt herself growing uncomfortable under his gaze. Suddenly, he blinked, and his suspicion seemed to turn to confusion.

"That's odd," Cyborg muttered.

"What?" Raven asked, frowning as he continued to stare at her.

"You just seem… different somehow."

Raven frowned, suddenly realizing that her leotard seemed a bit tighter, but mostly around her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, her hair seemed different as well. Longer somehow. Instinctively, Raven pulled her cloak around her body, noticing as she did so that it was a couple inches shorter. Inside her cloak, her hand brushed across a small diamond shaped opening that had appeared in her leotard just below her collarbone.

'My powers…' Raven realized, 'They must be starting to effect me.'

"Well, I'm going to go now," Raven said, turning to leave, still gripping the edges of her cloak together. However, her announcement seemed to remind Cyborg of his earlier interrogation, and he stopped her again.

"Raven, seriously." Lifting her eyes, she found that Cyborg was staring at her intently. "I'm worried about him. When I passed him in the hall, he seemed so… depressed. I've never seen him so down. Never. Not even after Terra.

"He wouldn't even tell me what was wrong. He just looked at me with these… dead eyes, and said that he just wanted to be alone. Just seeing him like that… it scared me. You have no idea. I mean, it was like… like he just lost something he really loved." He paused, frowning sadly as he remembered his green friend's behavior. He sighed, and continued.

"I tried to get him to come with me, but he wouldn't. I guess he had just made up his mind about something, because I couldn't talk him out of it, no matter what I said."

Raven frowned. From what Cyborg had just told her, Beast Boy was really upset. Had she done that? Guilt welled up inside her as she imagined what he must be feeling at the moment. She should have been braver. If she had just worked up the nerve to interrupt him and tell the truth, they wouldn't have to go through all this… HE wouldn't have to go through this.

Without warning she felt as though the top of her leotard was shrinking. Opening her cloak just a bit at the top and looking down, she realized that instead of her leotard shrinking, something else was getting bigger. Hurriedly, Raven pulled her cloak tighter around her and spun around before Cyborg could see anything.

"I have to go find Beast Boy," Raven said abruptly, stepping out of Cyborg's reach.

"But I still want to know what's going on," Cyborg protested. Raven looked back, and halted her hasty retreat.

"I'll explain later," she promised. Cyborg still seemed unsure, but after a moment of contemplation, he relented.

"Fine. But I want details later," Cyborg insisted, wagging his finger at her as though to prove he wouldn't forget. Nodding, Raven turned around again and left the main room.

Quickly, the empath dashed into the hallway and around a corner. After waiting a second to make sure Cyborg hadn't changed his mind and chased after her in his pursuit of information, Raven opened her cloak to better examine her outfit.

The first thing she noticed was that, as she had feared, her chest had indeed grown. Not by too much, but enough that the back of her bra was cutting into her uncomfortably, and her straps would need to be loosened a bit to compensate by her sudden new bust size.

Along with her unexpected breast enhancement, Raven felt as though she were an inch or two taller, although she wasn't completely sure. Lifting a hand to inspect her hair, she was able to confirm that it was indeed a couple inches longer.

The diamond shaped opening in her leotard had grown larger, revealing more skin than Raven would have liked. The bottom of her leotard had lifted higher on her hips. Her much-loved cloak was definitely shorter, and it didn't close around her as well as before. Lifting her hood, she found that it wasn't as concealing, as it was now somewhat smaller.

Raven shook her head in annoyance. Her powers could be so infuriating sometimes. But, she reminded herself, she had bigger things to worry about. Forcing her attention away from her attire, Raven straightened and began to walk to the staircase that would take her up to the roof.

It didn't take her long to reach the door that closed off the unattractive, metal stairs from the hallway. Flinging the door open, Raven took the stairs two at a time, and quickly reached the top. Opening the second door at the top of the stairs, Raven took a deep breath and stepped out onto the roof.

It was empty.

Raven looked around in confusion, finding that the object of her affection was nowhere to be seen.

Closing the door behind her, Raven walked further out onto the roof. There was no way she could be mistaken; it was completely barren of human life.

Walking over to one of the ledges lining the roof of the Tower, Raven sat down, resting her chin on her hand. A small gust of wind played with her long hair and tugged at her cloak. Even as the wind died down though, there was a flicker of movement at the corner of her vision.

Turning her head, Raven saw that there was metal screw sticking out of the side of the building. On the end of the spiraling piece of metal was a ripped swatch of familiar black material.

"Beast Boy!" Raven exclaimed, running toward the piece of material. Panic rose up in Raven, and she found herself leaning over the edge of the building to search the ground below. There was no sign of a body.

Sighing in relief, Raven backed away from the edge. She had been afraid for nothing. She lifted a hand to her chest to still her rapidly beating heart, and looked down in surprise as she felt that the diamond had grown wider again.

Her chest was larger as well. When she tried pulling her cloak around her to hide that fact, Raven found that it was no longer wide enough to reach in the middle, leaving a two inch gap between the edges. The royal blue material now only reached the back of her knees now as well. Her hair was much longer, falling past her shoulders more than before, and she was quite sure now that she was a couple inches taller.

Huffing in anger, Raven gazed angrily across the water at Jump City, directly across from her. Beast Boy's uniform must have gotten snagged when he went to fly across the water. Which meant that he must be somewhere in the city, and the sooner she found him, the sooner she could stop these ridiculous changes.

Stepping onto the edge of the roof, Raven lifted herself off and flew across the water separating the Tower from Jump City. It didn't take long to cross the stretch of water, and soon, she was flying high above the tall buildings of downtown Jump.

"If I were a green, teenage boy, where would I be?" Raven muttered, floating lazily above one of the many busy streets. Looking down, she spotted an arcade. That was the one Beast Boy went to sometimes with Cyborg, right? Shrugging, Raven flew down. It was worth a shot.

Opening the door to the arcade, Raven looked around. The lighting was surprisingly dim, considering all the flashing games set up around the large room. Still, if he was there, he shouldn't be too hard to find.

She slowly made her way through the bustling arcade, carefully looking at the faces of everyone she passed. She continued to do this until she was sure she had seen everyone in the arcade at least twice.

She sighed as she made her way out of the arcade. He obviously wasn't there.

Slowly, she began walking down the street, considering where he could be. She stopped suddenly, as she caught her reflection in a store window. Frowning, she gazed at her image. It looked… different somehow.

'I look older,' she finally decided, peering at her more matured features, 'Although, not by much.'

The first thing that tipped her off was her physique. She was taller, and a bit leaner. Though she had never been pudgy, she could tell that any leftover baby-fat had disappeared completely. Now that she wasn't looking at her chest from above, she could see that they weren't as bad as she had thought. True, they were much bigger than before, but she simply looked… well endowed. She had a feeling though, that if these changes kept going on, eventually she wouldn't look quite as "natural" in that department.

Though it was less noticeable, Raven could see that her facial features had also changed slightly. Her cheekbones seemed more defined, and her cheeks weren't quite as round. Her now long hair framed her face with subtle layers.

Raven's frown deepened as a thought came to her. What if she kept aging until she was old? What if, by the time she found Beast Boy, she was a wrinkled old woman!

Luckily, her common sense quickly kicked in, and she chided herself for being so hasty.

'I won't get that old,' Raven assured herself, slowly backing away from her reflection and continuing to walk, 'These changes are because of Affection, so I'll probably only age a little.'

Still, she shuddered as she imagined the OTHER possible changes that might occur if she didn't get her rear in gear.

Having already decided where she was going to check next, Raven quickened her pace. She only had to walk a few familiar blocks before she reached her destination. The pizza place they loved so much.

The scent of rising pizza pies and tomato sauce filled the air as Raven stepped inside the restaurant. There were tables set up inside the little pizza place, but Raven barely glanced at them before crossing the room and making her way up to the outside patio where they usually sat.

A couple sat at one of the bright red tables, talking in hushed tones as they shared a small pepperoni, and another table was occupied by a middle-aged man reading a newspaper while slowly eating a garden salad. Other than that though, the patio was empty. Beast Boy was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, slumping down at the table they seemed to inhabit most nights that they came here. It was at this table that they were always at odds over pizza toppings. Once in a while, Starfire would throw in a suggestion, such as toothpaste, or Robin would suggest some kind of pizza that had enough meat that Cyborg would be satiated, but that Beast Boy could easily pick off.

However, a compromise was never good enough for the two boys, who seemed to enjoy their meat vs. tofu debates more than they let on.

Raven smiled lightly, thinking about the many food arguments Beast Boy and Cyborg had had at the pizza place. Though they could be tiresome and quite often stupid, sometimes they were pretty amusing, and Raven had to admit that it just wouldn't be as fun to go out for pizza at least four times a week if they didn't have their usual dispute.

Gently drumming her fingers on the red laminate tabletop, Raven thought back to one of their more recent pizza outings.

They had been sitting around their table. After a couple minutes of the usual debate, they had decided to be as democratic as possible and have a vote. Weary of their friends' constant bickering, Starfire and Robin had both agreed to give up their votes to Beast Boy and Cyborg, resulting in a stalemate. Raven would be the final vote.

"Come on, Rae," Beast Boy had whined, unheeding of the glare she gave him for the use of her nickname, "You know you want some of that vegetarian pizza with extra tofu."

"No way," Cyborg had protested almost immediately, "She wants extreme meat lover's, don't ya, Raven?"

'Hm… bland, tasteless dinner, or clogged arteries for the rest of my life?' Raven remembered thinking before looking at both of their hopeful faces.

She remembered looking at Beast Boy's especially, and trying to remember how often he actually won out and got to have his meat free dinners without having to pick anything off or settle with plain cheese pizza. It definitely wasn't often.

And then, an odd feeling had flickered through her. Some might call it compassion, and despite her better judgment, she had given in and sided with Beast Boy. The happy expression on his face had been worth it.

"Miss? Miss? Would you like to order?"

Raven shook her head, noticing for the first time that someone was standing in front of her. Tapping her pen on her notepad, the waitress looked at Raven with a hint of impatience. Raven sighed, realizing the girl had probably been waiting for a while for Raven to snap out of her little dream world.

"Uh, no," Raven replied, "I actually have to go…"

"Wait!" Raven turned around, and the server gave her outfit a curious look.

"What?" Raven asked, not trying too hard to hide her annoyance.

"Well, I saw you walk in earlier," the girl said uncertainly, "But… I don't know. You're outfit seems… different somehow."

Looking down, Raven groaned. She had changed again. The diamond hole in her leotard was wider and reached further down her chest, exposing much more skin, and her hair was at least an inch and a half longer. Her cloak only reached mid-thigh, and she could feel that it wasn't as wide as it had been.

"It's nothing," she lied. Before the waitress could say anything else, Raven lifted herself into the air and flew away from the pizza place. She stopped about a block away to inspect herself more closely.

Her breasts had grown again, she noticed. Enough that she was beginning to grow concerned about how tight her bra could get before cutting off her circulation. As it was, it was already digging into her back and shoulders as it strained to stay on. One more change, and she was sure it would just snap off.

She knew she was taller as well, although it was hard to tell with no one familiar around to compare herself to. A quick glance at her reflection in a nearby shop window showed that her face had matured more as well.

As her hands curled into fists, Raven glared murderously at the reflection.

"This is just ridiculous," she growled, "And I still have no idea where he is."

Sighing, she unclenched her fists and shuffled over to a nearby bench (noticing as she did so that her leotard was much tighter in the back and was beginning to ride up). Folding her arms and leaning back, Raven stared out at the street pensively.

'Where could he be?' Raven wondered, idly twisting the hem of her recently shortened cloak as she thought. 'He wasn't at the tower, or at the arcade, or at the pizza place… I still can't believe I was changed again over a memory about tofu pizza toppings…'

She stared moodily at the busy street, her thoughts echoing in her head.

"Wait," Raven sat up, an idea beginning to form in the back of her mind, "Tofu. Maybe he's at that tofu restaurant he loves so much. What's it called again? Oh well, that doesn't matter. I know where it is."

She stood up from the bench. "It makes sense. He might have gone to drown his sorrows in flavorless meat substitutes in a place that he knows we never go to as a group, so it wouldn't be our first place to look. That must be it!"

There was a small coughing sound as a few people shuffled away from her uncertainly, trying to put some distance between themselves and Raven without moving too far away from what Raven now recognized as a bus stop.

'Maybe I should stop talking out loud when I'm in public,' Raven thought. She didn't let herself get too caught up with this thought, however, as she was already flying away to continue her search for Beast Boy.

---

Hehe, I bet some of you are getting pretty annoyed by now that Raven still hasn't found Beast Boy, eh? Sorry. But patience, my friends, I promise she'll find him soon. I won't say when, but soon. ;D Again, sorry.

Tammy Tamborine.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

Tofutopia: one of the hottest tofu restaurants in town. In other words, Raven had no idea how it got any business.

Stopping in front of the flickering neon lights, Raven took a moment to wonder why Beast Boy (or anyone) ever went there. The windows were kind of grimy, the alley beside it smelled like urine and rotten tofu, and inside she knew the booths' upholstery was ripped and fraying in many places. Everything on the menu contained tofu, half of which was deep-fried in grease and fat, somewhat ruining the healthy effect. There were nicer vegetarian friendly restaurants, Raven was sure, and yet as she looked through the dirty windows, she could see that it was fairly crowded inside.

Pulling her cloak as far around her as she could (which wasn't very far by now), Raven opened the door and went in, looking around the surprisingly large restaurant. She could see some closed off booths in the back, surrounded by swirling clouds of smoke. She didn't need the sign marking them off to know it was the smoking section. Beast Boy wouldn't be in there.

The rest of the tables were spread out around a stage with cheap brown material hung up as curtains. Spotlights had been set up on the two front corners of the stage, shining a bluish light onto it.

'_Karaoke night?'_ she guessed half-heartedly as she walked around the empty stage, looking out at the surrounding tables.

Folding her arms over her chest as she realized she was a bit more… bouncy than usual, Raven stopped in front of the stage and scanned the room. Her eyes widened as she saw a flash of green hair in one corner. Her heart jumped, and beneath her crossed arms, the empath felt a small change occur due to her excitement at having found the object of her affection. The change was minor enough that she didn't think anyone had noticed, but after taking a closer look, she realized that it had been for nothing as it was just some guy who had dyed his hair a pitiful shade of baby puke green.

Much to Raven's frustration, this happened a couple more times; a silver glove here, a squeaky laugh there, until she came to one conclusion…

There were a lot of young guys here, and so far, Beast Boy did not appear to be one of them. Still, there were many people in the restaurant (most of which, she noticed, were male, though there was a fair smattering of women and a few that could only be defined as androgynous), and he could still be one of them.

"There you are! You must be the new dancer we hired," a loud voice said behind her, causing her to jump as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

She turned around to find a middle-aged man peering at her. The badge pinned to his plain blue shirt read: MANAGER.

"Excuse me?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. She scowled as he looked at her body appreciatively.

"Didn't expect you this early," he continued, ignoring her, "But I'm certainly not complaining. The costumes are in the back. One of the other girls will show you where they are."

"Costumes? What are you talking about?" Raven frowned.

"You're a funny one," the manager laughed, nudging her shoulder lightly, "That's great. You'll get along well here. And it's nice to see you brought your own costume, but I think you may be covering just a little too much skin, so go change."

As she looked down at her outfit, Raven frowned, trying to hide her surprise as she slowly got over her shock and realized what kind of "restaurant" this was. "Is this some kind of… _strip club_?"

Several people turned their heads after Raven's somewhat loud accusation, causing both her and the manager to turn red with embarrassment.

"No, no!" the manager protested at once, smiling before he added jokingly, "I mean, it's not like we have any poles. No, this is more of a… cabaret. We serve tofu meals to people throughout the day, and in the evening, we provide some of our customers with a drink menu and some entertainment. There's no nudity, I promise you, but the customers sure do enjoy our dancers."

"I see," Raven replied. She thought of all the times Beast Boy had come to the restaurant and then returned to the tower late, claiming to have stopped at an arcade on the way home from the restaurant. Jealousy began to bubble inside of her as she reconsidered the truth in that.

Feeling another change, Raven folded her arms tighter over her chest. Gritting her teeth slightly, Raven asked, "Have you seen my friend by any chance? He's short and green… kind of hard to miss."

"You mean Garfield?" the man asked, seemingly oblivious to the anger and jealousy in her voice, "Nope. Haven't seen him today. Doubt he'd come to watch you dance though. He only comes in the afternoon, never stays for the night shows. Whenever he stays too long, he's outta here like a bat outta Hell as soon as the curtains open."

Unclenching her jaw, Raven lightly scolded herself for jumping to conclusions, but she still couldn't quite shake her suspicions. As he spoke, the manager had moved a chair over to the corner of the stage and had begun rubbing one of the spotlights clean. Climbing down, he looked at her and continued to talk, growing slightly more thoughtful.

"I've always wanted to know why he didn't stay. I asked him one time, but he told me he didn't know. But if you ask me, it wasn't him answering; it was his heart."

"His… heart?" Raven repeated, feeling her own heart mysteriously skip a beat.

"Yeah," the manager nodded. Turning around, he continued to work on the spotlights. "It's like his heart was answering something his mind didn't know. And even though he hadn't realized that he's in love, his instinct and heart were telling him not to stay in case he offends her.

"Or at least, that's how it used to be. Lately, he's had some pretty odd spurts of emotion. One day, he'll come in, and he'll act like he doesn't have a care in the world, jabbering on about how great this one girl is. Elated, I think is a good word to describe him then. But then the next day, it's like he's got incurable depression, usually due to some spat he had with that same girl. Mind you, they're probably not as bad as he makes 'em seem, but they sure do take a toll on the little guy.

"All I can say is, the sooner he tells her, the better for both of 'em."

Finished polishing the spotlights, he turned and looked over at Raven, who had become quite silent as thoughts and emotions ran rampant in her head.

Beast Boy really cared about her. Sure, she already knew that, but that didn't make it any less flattering knowing that he turned down scantily dressed dancers at a place that apparently had no age requirement unless you were buying drinks.

However, the warm feeling that spread through her at that thought was quickly overwhelmed by guilt. Had she really made him that upset so many times? She had never thought their little arguments fazed him for long.

If it hadn't been for the way the manager's eyes bulged out, Raven probably wouldn't have noticed that her thoughts had caused another change.

Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, sure he must have been seeing things. His jaw dropped as he saw that he hadn't been mistaken. Blushing, Raven quickly stepped back, stuttering a rushed thanks and goodbye before turning tail and running out of the restaurant.

-

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

None of the emotions bothered looking up as Anger let out another string of curses. They didn't really blame her for getting angry over the latest changes.

Every time Raven experienced a physical change, each of the emotions was effected physically as well. It simply added to the tense nervousness that had been building up around Knowledge's realm, which had become the unofficial stronghold for all the emotions as they waited for Raven to find Beast Boy.

A wet sniffle came from Timid as she sat in the corner of the library area, hugging her knees morosely.

"It'll be all right Timid," Affection cooed softly, sitting next to the sad emotion. "Raven will find him soon, and when she does… when she does, everything will be wonderful."

"It's not that," Timid whispered, leaning her hot cheek on her hands, "Well… not only that."

"What is it?" Affection prompted gently.

"It's just… I'm getting kind of uncomfortable."

"We all are," Affection replied, smiling apologetically.

"No, I mean… physically."

-

Panting, Raven leaned heavily against a brick wall five blocks away from Tofutopia. Once she had noticed that the manager had seen the change, she had panicked and ran from the scene.

Still leaning over, Raven groaned. Pain shot through her back each time she took a breath, and all over her body felt strange. She couldn't quite describe it. It was like something that was either scalding hot or freezing cold was coursing through her body, making her feel weak and uncomfortable.

Side effects, she decided. The back pain was understandable; she had grown considerably in the chest area, and she was unused to the weight and lack of support from her now-too-small bra. The unexplainable feeling however, had to be because of her powers: a reminder to her that she needed to find Beast Boy soon. Luckily, she was quickly growing used to it. Although it was still uncomfortable, it was bearable.

Raven straightened, taking a deep breath. She heard the sound of a garbage can exploding in the alley next to her due to a bit of frustration seeping past her mental barriers, but she ignored it. Taking another deep breath, she stepped out onto the sidewalk, and stopped.

The sun was just setting, changing the blue sky to one of a warm, golden hue. Like a topaz, or desert sand. Earth.

It was then that something in her clicked. Topazes, sand, earth… rocks and geomancers.

Terra.

Pushing herself off the ground with her powers, lurching slightly due to her new proportions, Raven flew upwards and began to quickly make her way toward the edge of the city, where Terra's old grave was.

Though she was quickly growing tired after her long, stress-filled day, Raven didn't notice it. She was on a mission, and for the first time since she had started searching, she had no doubts that she would find him at her destination.

She finally slowed as she drew closer to the run down part of the city Slade had kept as his hideout when Terra had been his apprentice. Lowering herself to the ground, Raven walked over to the gaping hole that served as the door to Terra's former tomb.

Darkness immediately surrounded her as she stepped into the tunnel. Her feet crunched on the broken pieces of tile and tinted glass; the only remainders of what had probably been a very nice building, pre-earthquake.

As she went in further, the ground beneath her feet turned to hard dirt, and her path sloped lightly downward, leading her further underground. Apart from the faraway scratching sound of running mice, and the drip of water echoing through Terra's tomb, everything was silent.

She slowed to a halt as she reached the opening to the cavernous chamber that had held Terra's rock encased body.

Taking one more step forward, Raven surveyed the tomb. Splintered beams and packed in dirt and rocks created the walls and ceiling, and for a split second, Raven wondered if it had been Terra's own powers at the time that had created this cave.

On the ground below, broken pieces of rock lay in the center of the tomb, some scattered over a plaque. Sure enough, Beast Boy sat kneeling over the rocky fragments.

He looked up when he realized he was not alone. Knowing that he could only see her silhouette against the red sunlight shining in from the cave entrance behind her, Raven remained silent while he scrutinized her carefully. She knew he had recognized her when his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"How long have I been in here?" he asked incredulously, standing up. He looked like he was about to walk over, but he stopped himself.

"A couple hours," Raven informed him, folding her arms self-consciously, "My denial problem has still been making changes."

Beast Boy nodded his head, still confused but not wanting to admit it.

"Beast Boy," Raven began, fighting back the awkward combination of nervousness and excitement bubbling up inside her, "I need to talk to you about all this," she stated, hoping he'd know what she was referring to.

Apparently he did, Raven decided, as he suddenly grew quiet. Raven took this chance to look at him carefully. His eyes were red and somewhat puffy, but at the moment, they were dry. His whole body seemed to sag as if under some huge weight. She frowned.

"You don't need to," Beast Boy told her, just as she was about to continue, "I get it. You're in love. I told you already, I hope it works out with what's-his-name. And if you're worried about how I feel for you, don't be. I'm not sure if I'll ever get over you, but I won't do anything to hurt our friendship or your new relationshi-"

He came to an abrupt halt as a slightly frustrated Raven clamped his mouth shut with her powers. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, and she quickly began to say what needed to be said.

"You jumped to conclusions," she told him, a bit more harshly than she would have liked. Sensing he would remain silent while she spoke, she pulled away her magic. "You were wrong to assume that I was in love with _some guy_."

"So," Beast Boy frowned in confusion, "You _are_ into girls?"

"No!" Raven snapped, "I'm into YOU! Don't you get it?! You're the one that caused all the changes, because I didn't want to admit that you mean more to me than I ever could have imagined! You! Despite your bad jokes, your annoying tendencies and your total lack of regard for privacy, I've fallen for you."

Surprised by her outburst, Beast Boy simply stared at her, shocked into silence. Throughout her rant, Raven had been feeling the changes continuing to worsen, but by now she had learned to ignore it. Just as she was beginning to wonder which had surprised him more, her confession or the changes; a still stunned Beast Boy shook his head.

"So," he smirked, "are those real, then?"

Raven glared at him. She couldn't help it. She was relieved to see that the green boy that had been so depressed just seconds ago was back to his usual happy self, but that joke was _bad_.

Giving a shout of laughter, proud at his amazing ability to get under her skin, Beast Boy walked over to her.

Knowing she was about to retaliate with a sarcastic quip, Beast Boy quickly pressed his lips against hers, effectively silencing her. He had to stand on the balls of his feet and lean over awkwardly to reach her, due to her added height and current bust size, making him chuckle lightly.

She was surprised by his sudden boldness, but after reveling in the strange wonderfulness of it, quickly decided that there was nothing wrong with that, and allowed herself to return the kiss.

She would have been content just staying in that position for a long time. However, her powers had a different plan in mind. She had accepted her feelings, and they had been returned, and before she had really noticed it, her powers had returned her to her normal proportions and apparel. The sudden change was fast, and easily threw off their balance, sending the new lovers to the ground.

Laughing, Beast Boy pulled away slightly. "Are you okay?"

Smiling, Raven nodded. "I'm more than okay."

"Yes, you are," he joked, wiggling his eyebrows. Rolling her eyes, Raven smirked and lifted herself up on her elbows. Following her example, Beast Boy sat up as well.

"It's getting late. We should go back to the Tower soon," Raven commented, looking over her shoulder at the entrance. The sun had gone down completely by now, and the sky was growing darker.

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed. Lifting herself to her knees, Raven began to stand up, but reaching out for her hands, Beast Boy stopped her. "We should. In a few minutes."

She might have protested more, if his lips didn't feel so damn good against hers.

-

A long, relieved sigh filled the room the emotions were in as everything changed back to normal.

"She did it!" Affection cried ecstatically. Laughing, she and Happy clasped hands and danced joyfully around the room.

Brave let out a few loud whoops until Rude threw one of the large pillows at the back of her head, her smile as wide as the others. As the two playfully duked it out with pillows, and Happy and Affection continued to dance, the rest watched contentedly from the sides.

Though Timid was still bent slightly in her usual slouch of non-confidence, she wore a small smile, and for once seemed at ease with the world.

Knowledge looked over at Anger, who sported a grin. Noticing Knowledge's knowing grin, Anger quickly forced herself to resume her usual irritated expression.

"I can't believe he told a joke at a time like that," she fumed, but it was too late, and Knowledge just shook her head and looked away, chuckling.

Taking a deep breath, Wisdom watched all of this proudly. Yes, she was proud: of Raven, of Beast Boy, and of the emotions. True, it had been less than pleasant at some points, and down right crazy at others, but in the end, everything had worked out.

-

Landing on the rocky beach at the base of Titans Tower, Raven smiled at the green bird perched on her shoulder.

"You realize we're going to have to tell the others about us, right?" she asked, suddenly feeling nervous. What would the others think about their new relationship? Would they disapprove? Tease them? Would they say they'd known it all along?

"Well, yeah," Beast Boy laughed, returning to his human form, "I mean, Robin's probably one of the world's greatest detectives, but he probably wouldn't even notice if we didn't tell him."

Raven smiled lightly, and Beast Boy beamed. Looking over at the massive doors of the Tower, Raven grasped Beast Boy's hand. Squeezing her fingers comfortingly, Beast Boy led her towards the doors.

Opening them, they stepped inside. No one was around, and they silently made their way up to the level the common room was on.

Raven stopped abruptly as they reached the doorway. They hadn't seen anyone in the halls, and she knew that everyone would be on the other side. Sensing her hesitation, Beast Boy looked over.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slightly worried. "Don't you want to tell them?"

"I do, it's just…" she paused. Why was she so nervous? "I guess… I'm just not used to this whole… love thing."

Beast Boy nodded knowingly. Leaning in, he kissed her lightly and smiled. "You'll get used to it."

"I know. But…"

"We don't have to tell them yet," he told her, stroking her hair, "We can wait until you're ready."

Almost every nervous fiber in her body was telling her to just thank him and then wait until she was ready, but in the end, logic won out.

"No," she sighed, "Let's just get this over with."

"Are you sure?" Beast Boy asked carefully, "Do you really want to?"

"Not really," Raven admitted, "But they have to find out eventually. Besides, if we don't tell them now, they'll simply find out at the worst possible time."

"Find out what?"

Snapping her head towards the door, Raven's eyes widened in surprise as she realized that their three friends were standing in the doorway.

"See what I mean?" Raven said, turning towards Beast Boy. He smirked, and they looked back at their friends.

"Find out what?" Robin repeated, raising an eyebrow. He didn't seem suspicious, luckily, merely curious.

"Well… you see," Raven began haltingly, "It's kind of hard to explain."

"Not really," Beast Boy muttered, snickering when she shot a glare at him from the side of her eye.

"Does this have anything to do with earlier?" Cyborg asked, scrutinizing them carefully.

"It has everything to do with earlier," Raven confirmed, "First of all, do you all remember when we watched 'Wicked Scary'?"

"How could we forget?" Robin joked.

Raven continued. "Well, it happened again. Except with a different emotion. A much more powerful emotion…"

"Which one?" Robin asked hesitantly, "You're obviously not denying it any more."

Raven paused. This was it. Choking down the nervous lump forming in the back of her throat, she replied in an even tone, "Affection."

"Affection?" Cyborg repeated, slight confusion evident in his voice. "Like love and all that?"

Beast Boy nodded for her as Raven was busy trying to be as invisible as possible.

"You feel the Affection?" Starfire gasped excitedly. Swooping over with inhuman speed, Starfire pulled Raven into a nearly suffocating, but happy hug. "That is most wonderful news! For whom do you feel such sentiments?"

Seeing that she couldn't speak and try to escape Star's death grip hug simultaneously, Beast Boy lifted a hand.

"Uh, that would be me."

Starfire squealed happily at this news, clinging onto Raven even tighter, while Robin and Cyborg simply stared at them with almost identical shocked expressions.

"Y-you and…" Robin stuttered (which was an impressive feat considering his jaw was hanging low enough to scrape on the floor).

"Isn't this like… the first sign of the Apocalypse?" Cyborg asked in amazement.

"Hey!" Beast Boy exclaimed indignantly. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

Shaking off some of his surprise, Robin pointed over at Silkie, who had wobbled over to watch the excitement. The worm was currently staring at Beast Boy with his beady eyes bulged out as if the changeling had just grown and extra head.

"I think that answers your question," Robin replied. Beast Boy stared back at the larva with a major sweatdrop while Raven had resorted to trying to use her powers to relinquish Starfire's hold without hurting her. Her eyes shut in glee, the oblivious alien didn't even notice the ribbon of dark magic covering her mouth as she babbled elatedly.

-

Raven lazily took a bite of the warmed up pizza in front of her, realizing just how hungry she was.

After prying Starfire off, Raven had recapped the day's events to her friends, filling them in on the important details that needed to be said; telling them of her denial, the consequences and of Beast Boy's confession after leaving her mind. Of course, the last detail had peaked everyone's interest, and Beast Boy had quickly delved into telling his own, more exciting and detailed version of the story, leaving Raven free to find sustenance.

She listened half-heartedly, knowing most of the story first-hand, but finding interest in hearing about Beast Boy's experiences inside her head. Stone guardians, chimeras… she hadn't known that he had gone through so much earlier. He also seemed quite keen on describing all of the outfits thoroughly for each stage of their transformations. It embarrassed her, and though she was sorely tempted to make him stop, she let it slide because he seemed so happy.

"Wow…" Robin whistled once Beast Boy had finished. "That's…"

"Wonderful," Starfire offered, seeing their leader's lack of words. "I am most happy for you both. And these outfits sound most exciting! Perhaps I shall try some of them sometime."

Robin's face turned bright red at the thought.

Cyborg snickered. "I gotta say man, I _never_ saw this coming."

Raven flushed and looked down at her pizza. Reaching under the table they were sitting at, Beast Boy placed his hand on hers.

"Well, whatever," Beast Boy shrugged, "It doesn't matter if it seemed unlikely before or not. We're together now."

"You're right, and I couldn't be happier for you two," Cyborg said, lightly punching Beast Boy's arm teasingly. "And just when did you turn into such a sap?"

"I think it was around noon," Beast Boy quipped, grinning widely.

Rolling her eyes, Raven sat back in her chair while the rest of her friends laughed comfortably. An almost indiscernible smile tugged up the corners of her mouth as she relaxed. A large yawn escaped her, causing a small break in the aimless conversation her friends had been having.

"You appear weary after your day, friend Raven," Starfire smiled sweetly.

"Yes," Raven agreed, "I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight."

She stood up and said goodnight to her friends. Her eyes lingered on Beast Boy for a second, and she wondered if she was supposed to kiss him goodnight now. Though she was tempted to, she remembered the rest of her friends still sitting around the table, and decided against it. She gave him an affectionate smile instead.

Turning around, she made her way out of the room. She was halfway down the hall when she heard the doors to the common room opening again. She turned around to see Beast Boy jogging towards her.

"I decided that I want to hit the hay, too," he told her with a grin. Nodding, she continued to walk with Beast Boy at her side.

They quickly reached her room, and she turned to look at him.

"Well, goodnight," she said, smiling lightly. She didn't turn around to go into her room yet though, and she hoped Beast Boy understood why.

"Yeah, you too," he replied, taking a step closer. Seeing that he was indeed on the same train of thought, Raven lowered her eyelids and leaned forward just enough to meet him halfway as he gave her a goodnight kiss. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her body closer to him. A small sigh escaped her lips as she melted further into his embrace. After what seemed like much too short a period, but was really at least a couple minutes, they parted. She opened her eyes, and he winked at her.

"Sweet dreams," he told her, before turning around and continuing down the hall.

She watched his retreating form for a minute before stepping into her bedroom and slowly closing the door behind her. She smiled lightly and flicked off her lights.

"Sweet dreams."

The End

* * *

Sorry this chapter took so long, but here it is. It's been a blast writing this, and I hope you all enjoyed it, but like it says up there, this is the end of SLJNL. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. It's always appreciated.:D

Tammy Tamborine


End file.
